REPORT 



AGRICULTURE AND GEOLOGY 



MISSISSIPPI. 



ESIBnACING A SKETCH OF THE 



SOCIAL AND NATURAL HISTORY OF THE STATE. 



BY 

B. L. C. WAILES, 

GEOLOGIST OF MISSISSIPPI; 

M15MBER OF THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOU THE PROMOTION OF SCIENCE; 

CORRESPONDING MEMBER OF THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE, 

AND OF THE BOSTON SOCIETV OP NATURAL HISTORV, ETC. ETC. 



PUBLISHED BY OEDER OF THE LEGISLATUSE. 



E. BARKSDALE, STATE PRINTEE. 

1854. 



[- 34' 



'>^ £3 1909 



PREFACE 



The following pages contain the substance of a Re- 
port made to the Legislature of the State of Mississippi, 
with such alterations and modifications as the writer was 
authorized and instructed to make, and which became 
necessary to bring the publication within the means ap- 
propriated for that purpose. 

This occasioned a partial abridgment, and rendered 
the omission of the larger portion of the plates, designed 
to illustrate it, unavoidable. 

These changes in the scope and proportions of the 
work, obviously detract, in some degree, from its perspi- 
cuity and completeness, and must found some claim to 
indulgence for its defects. 

The circumstances which devolved the preparation of 
this work upon the author, and the disadvantages under 
which it was executed, are explained in the Introduc- 
tion; and these also, the indulgent reader will doubtless 
admit, should screen from a too rigid criticism the per- 
formance of one wholly unpractised in the art and 
mystery of book-making. 



iv PREFACE. 

To some extent local in character, and addressed mainly 
to the agriculturists of the country, a class to whom a 
popular style and an avoidance of abstruse speculations 
are most acceptable, it is not expected that the work will 
greatly interest the proficient in science. 

The naturalist, nevertheless, may not be wholly dis- 
appointed in the perusal of these pages, and perchance 
may glean some information as to the geographical dis- 
tribution of the Fauna and Flora of our country, their 
local habits, and characteristics, and extend his know- 
ledge by an acquaintance with our palaeontology. 

For these he will be indebted, in part, to those gentle- 
men who have kindly lent me their aid in some of these 
departments. The name of Agassiz stamps with authen- 
ticity the catalogue of southwestern fishes that has been 
given. Prof Baird, of the Smithsonian Institution, verifies 
the list of our reptiles ; and Mr, Conrad has found in 
our collections the means of establishing forty new species 
of Eocene fossils — no inconsiderable contribution to mine- 
ral Conchology. 

The casual reader may find something to interest him 
in the early history of our State, as well as in the pro- 
gress of our agriculture, and in the cultivation and pre- 
paration of our important staple, which, beyond the 
cotton-growing States, has been little understood. 

It is, however, to the favor and indulgence of my own 
fellow-citizens, for whose information and benefit it was 
chiefly prepared, that I commend the work. 

Satisfied with their approval, my gratification will be 



PREFACE. V 

complete, should my labors contribute in any degree to 
their knowledge or prosperity. 

Of the mechanical execution of the work, it is scarcely 
necessary to speak. The neat typography of Collins 
needs no commendation; and the chromo-lithographs of 
Kosenthal exhibit in a most creditable manner the pro- 
gress of this art in our country, and give examples of a 
style of illustration for works of this character, which 
has not yet been surpassed. 



CONTENTS. 



Preface ..... 

List of Illustrations .... 
Introduction .... 

I. HisTORicAi; Outline 

Expedition and discovery by De Soto 
As a colony of France 
As a British province 
As a province of Spain 

II. Land Titles . . 

III. Agricultuee. 

Early state and progress of agriculture 

The cultivation of tobacco 

The cultivation and preparation of indigo 

The cotton plant; its origin and varieties, and its ene 

mies and diseases . . , , 

The mode of planting, cultivating, and gathering the 

cotton crop .... 

Whitney's gin — Invention, and introduction of ma 

chinery • • . . . 

Preparation of cotton for market, its exportation and 

sale .... 

Maize, or Indian corn 
Wheat, oats, rye, barley, rice, &c. 
Sugar cane . . . 

Sweet potato . . 

Irish potato .... 
Pulse . 

Grasses .... 

Statistics — progress and condition of planting interest 



PAGE 

iii 

xi 

xiii 

It 
18 
21 
53 
66 

lit 

12t 
132 
135 

138 

150 

155 

ItO 
181 
186 
189 
190 
193 
195 
19t 
200 



VIU 



CONTENTS. 



Introductory remarks 






20t 


Loess, or loam. 






213 


Sandstone — Davion rock 






214 


Grand Gulf sandstone 






216 


Ferruginous sandstone — iron . 






219 


Limestone 






223 


Clays, ochreous earths, and sands 






226 


Marls, or mineral fertilizers . 






229 


Coal, or lignite 






. 236 


Iron pyrites, gold, copper, and lead 






240 


Diluvium, or northern drift . 






245 


Springs and wells 






253 


Mineral waters 






258 


Artesian wells 






260 


Palaeontology 






269 


Catalogue of Vicksburg fossils 






28Y 


Catalogue of Jackson fossils . 






289 


Analysis 






290 


Meteorology . 






29t 


Tables of temperature, and fall of rain 




299 


V. Fauna, 


Mammalia, or animals . . . . 310 


Aves, or birds 






31T 


Reptilia, or reptiles . 






32T 


Pisces, or fish 






332 


Mollusca, or shell-fish 






338 


VI. Flora. 


Forest-trees ...... 341 


Parasites, runners and climbers 


. 




344 


Undergrowth perennials 


. 




345 


Noxious weeds 






345 


Vitis, or grape 






346 


Plants, useful, medicinal, and ornamei 


ital 




346 



CONTENTS. 



IX 



APPENDIX. 



A. The President of the Board of Trustees of the State 

University to the Governor of the State 

B. Message of Governor McRae to the Legislature 

C. Report of the Committee of the Senate 

D. The act providing for printing of report 

E. Extracts from Dr. Millington's report to the Governor 

F. Mr. Dunbar's classification of land titles 

G. Whitney's specification, and description of his gin 
H. Conveyance of right to use a Whitney gin 



357 
35t 
359 
360 
363 
364 
36t 
3t0 



ILLUSTEATIONS. 



Old English map of Mississippi. 
I. Seals of the British province of West Florida. 
Old French copper coins. Figs. 2 and 3. 
II. Fac-similes of Spanish governors and seals. 

III. The cotton plant. 1st view. 

IV. The cotton plant. 2d view. 

V. Caterpillar, chrysalis, and moth on cotton. 
YI. Rot in cotton bolls. 
VII. Primitive roller gin. Fig. 1. 

Roller gin with treadle and balance wheel. Fig. 2. 
Whitney's gin of 180t. Fig. 3. 
Section of cylinder with flattened wire teeth. Fig. 
Section of same with pointed wire teeth. Fig. 5. 
VIII. Cotton plantation in the West Indies, in 1T64. 
IX. Geological strata. 

X. Illustration of stratification. Figs. 1 and 2. 
XI. Artesian well at Columbus. Fig. 1. 
Principles of artesian wells. Fig. 2. 
XII. Sections on Brandon Railroad. 

XIII. Boring artesian wells. 

XIV. Fossil shells from the Eocene marl-beds at Jackson. 
XV. Fossil shells from the Eocene niarl-beds at Jackson. 

XVI. Fossil shells from the Eocene marl-beds at Jackson. 
XVII. Fossil shells from the Eocene marl-beds at Jackson. 



INTEODUCTION. 



The Agricultural and Geological Survey of the State 
originated in an act of the Legislature, approved the 
5th of March, 1850, to take effect on the first of June 
following, entitled "an Act further to endow the Uni- 
versity of Mississippi;" and its execution was committed 
to that Institution. 

Dr. John Millington was appointed, by the Trustees, 
principal Professor of Geology and Agriculture, in con- 
nection with the professorship of Chemistry then held 
by him in the University. 

No assistant was obtained until the latter part of 
1851, and the gentleman then appointed relinquished 
the situation shortly after ; having merely commenced a 
reconnoissance of the State, of which no report was 
made. 

The situation was tendered to the present incumbent 
on the 14th of January, 1852. Since that time he has 
been occupied in the performance of the duties com- 
mitted to him, which were somewhat augmented by an 
amendatory act of the Legislature, passed after his ap- 
pointment, by which a room in the State House was set 
apart and placed under his charge, for the better pre- 
servation of the collections in Natural History, which, 
as the State Geologist, he was required to make. 



XIV INTRODUCTION. 

In the prosecution of this work, a considerable por- 
tion of the State has been traversed, with a view of 
gaining such general knowledge of its character as would 
best guide and direct the subsequent, more detailed, and 
minute examination to be made. 

More than seven thousand three hundred miles have 
been travelled, collections amounting to several thousand 
specimens have been made, and the character, peculiari- 
ties, and productions of the different sections visited, 
have been observed and noted. 

It was doubtless with a general knowledge of the 
geological features of the State that the Survey was 
authorized by the Legislature. 

Consisting chiefly of the more recent formations, the 
absence of the primitive and metalliferous rocks, in place, 
gave no reason to expect the existence of those ores and 
minerals which belong properly to an earlier period, and 
which constitute the chief resources of less favored and 
fertile districts than ours. The discovery of mines of 
copper, lead, or of the more precious metals, or, even of 
the true coal-fields, was obviously not to be expected. 
It was, therefore, mainly in reference to its influence 
and bearing upon the agricultural prosperity of the 
State, that it was undertaken. 

The effects produced in New Jersey, Virginia, and 
several other States, in the restoration of exhausted 
lands to their primitive fertility, by the application of 
the marls or mineral manures which similar surveys 
have brought into notice, exerted the chief influence in 
setting on foot an enterprise for developing our own re- 
sources of this character, which were suspected, with 
good reason, to exist in the great tertiary field that 
overspreads the State; and the examination which has 
so far been made, establishes the fact, that our stores of 



INTRODUCTION. XV 

calcareous fertilizers are as abundant, as varied in 
character, and excellent in quality, as any other State 
can boast. 

To ascertain and point out the chief deposits of these 
marls, and to determine their relative value and chemi- 
cal constituents, becomes now an object of much im- 
portance. Exact analyses of the different varieties, 
characterizing them by the prevailing fossils, when such 
exist, so as at once to be identified by the planter, should 
be made; numerous experiments in their application 
should be encouraged; and the effects upon the growth 
of our different agricultural productions should be dili- 
gently observed, and accurately detailed. 

The attention of planters has been pointed to these 
fertilizers on all suitable occasions, and in a few instances 
experiments on a limited scale have been commenced, 
the result of which cannot of course yet be given. 
Specimens have also been collected, with their associated 
and characteristic fossils, and have been deposited for 
general inspection, in the State Cabinet at the Capitol, 
and in the Cabinet of the University at Oxford. 

Analyses of many varieties of our marls and soils 
should have been given in this Report. Few of these, 
however, have been procured, owing, in part, to a defect 
in the law authorizing the Survey, and to the illness and 
subsequent resignation of Dr. Millington, the principal 
Professor of Geology and Chemistry, in the State Uni- 
versity. 

The latter event occurring at a period so nearly ap- 
proaching to that at which a report of the progress of 
the Survey was required, devolved unexpectedly upon 
the assistant that duty, which, under the existing cir- 
cumstances, must otherwise have been unperformed. 

Interrupted by a severe and protracted indisposition, 



XVI INTRODUCTION. 

and surrounded by a pestilence, the source of perpetual 
and distracting anxiety, the writer feels that the duty 
which has been so untowardly postponed, and in the end 
so hurriedly executed, has been very imperfectly dis- 
charged, and trusts that these considerations will be re- 
garded as constituting some claim to indulgence, for the 
many imperfections which may be charged against this 
Keport. 

Whilst captious and ill-natured criticism is ever to be 
deprecated, a fair and proper correction of error is as 
much to be desired ; and in an essay of this character, 
in which the object is to impart useful knowledge, is 
rather to be invited. 

Errors have doubtless occurred in treating of the 
multifarious topics which are embraced in this Report; 
and to the end that the greatest accuracy may be at- 
tained, the writer will be gratified to have them pointed 
out, in order that they may be corrected and avoided in 
future. 

Of the plan of this Report, it will be seen that, with 
the sanction of approved precedents, it has been con- 
sidered that a short preliminary sketch of the discovery 
and early history of the country, not hitherto separately 
written, would not be out of place. 

In compiling and abridging this from other writers, it 
has been a somewhat difficult task to condense it within 
the required limits, except at the expense of much of 
the interest that would attach to a more detailed 
^account. 

To the works of Martin, Stoddard, and Gayarre, and 
to the Journal of Ellicott, the United States Commis- 
sioner for receiving possession of the country, I am in- 
debted for many of the facts which have been given, 
and I have not unfrequently adopted the language in 



INTRODUCTION. XVll 

which they were originally detailed. To these highly 
respectable and authentic sources of information with 
respect to our early history, it gives me pleasure to ac- 
knowledge my indebtedness. 

From the manuscript correspondence of the late Mr, 
William Dunbar " of the Forest," I have also been ena- 
bled to glean some interesting facts, and to the repre- 
sentatives of his family I have to express my thanks 
for the opportunity afforded me of consulting it. 

The Spanish archives preserved in the State, have 
also, to a limited extent, been consulted, and, had time 
permitted, might have been more profitably explored. I 
have to regret, notwithstanding, that this sketch is not 
more complete ; the more so, as there is reason to believe 
that some authentic and interesting documents are pre- 
served in the State, not as yet made public, which, if 
accessible, would no doubt serve to fill up some of the 
chasms and otherwise explain and illustrate our early 
history. These I should have been pleased to avail 
myself of. 

As a subject of interest to the landed proprietors of 
the State, the chapter on Land Titles was considered as 
germain to the subject, and entitled to the short space 
which it occupies. 

An attempt has been made to give a view of the early 
agriculture of the country, derived mainly from the ac- 
counts received from many of our older inhabitants, 
with whom I have conferred, aided by my own recollec- 
tions. In the details given of the different agricultural 
productions, the mode of cultivation, and the machinery 
for preparing these, I have been similarly aided. 

In all that has been said in this connection, universal 
concurrence is not expected. 

On matters in which there is such diversity both in 



XVlll INTRODUCTION. 

theory and practice, as in the course of cultivation and 
choice of implements especially, this is not to be at- 
tained. If it be maintained that any of these details 
are erroneous, I can only say that any such will be most 
willingly corrected, when it can be done on better au- 
thority than that on which any specific fact or statement 
has been given. 

The tables of agricultural and other statistics have 
been prepared from the best sources, and will form 
matter for convenient and useful reference. 

At this stage of the Survey, and in the first, and as it 
may be termed preliminary report, the notice of the 
Geology and other departments of natural history, will 
necessarily present a mere outline, and cannot assume 
that form and shape which will properly be given them 
in a final report. Such an arrangement has been 
adopted, however, as far as these subjects are embraced, 
as will, it is believed, give a reasonably comprehensive 
and famUiar view of those departments of the Eeport. 

Of the Fauna and Flora of the State, in the notice 
that has been taken of them, my own observations have 
been directed by the best available authorities j and in the. 
former department, among others the works of DeKay, 
and of Audubon, and Bachman, among the most recent 
published, and by inference, the most complete and cor- 
rect, have been consulted. The aid of distinguished 
naturalists, also, has been liberally afforded ; and I have 
to acknowledge my indebtedness, and express my 
thanks, to Professors Agassiz and Baird, and to Mr, 
Conrad, for their contributions to this department of the 
Eeport. The catalogues furnished by them, although 
not so complete or perfect as they will hereafter be 
made, have the stamp of authenticity and accuracy to 
recommend them. I should be remiss, were I to omit 



INTRODUCTION. XIX 

to acknowledge the obligations I am also under to Dr. 
Leidy and Mr. Cassin, of the Academy of Natural 
Sciences, of Philadelphia. 

As to the illustrations which accompany this Eeport, 
the limited means appropriated to the Survey, and the 
dearth of artistic skill available in this quarter, have 
made me dependent upon the early, imperfect, and self- 
taught attainment of drawing ; and which, having been 
almost wholly unpractised for nearly thirty years, makes 
an apology necessary for their rude and unsatisfactory 
execution. 

In making the collections required, the cases in the 
State Cabinet attest that a reasonable progress has been 
made with the means appropriated to this object, and 
upwards of a thousand duplicates have been deposited 
in the University at Oxford, for its cabinet. 

When this collection is further advanced towards 
completion, on the plan I have proposed, it will form, to 
some extent, a museum of economic geology and agri- 
culture, in which, not only specimens of natural history, 
the soils, marls, and minerals, may be preserved ; but 
also improved and rare agricultural productions and im- 
plements may be exhibited with profit and instruction 
to the planter, at the same time that the collection will 
form one of much interest to the scientific visitor, to 
say nothing of the means of instruction and gratifica- 
tion it will afford to the young and the curious of all 
classes. 

In my travels through the State, on this not very 
generally understood or properly appreciated mission, it 
was to be expected that occasionally little either of 
information or assistance would be afibrded. Such, 
however, has rarely been the case; and the degree of 
interest which has often been manifested in my pursuits 



XX INTRODUCTION. 

has been very gratifying, and augurs favorably for the 
future and more minute prosecution of this investi- 
gation. 

To those gentlemen whose hospitality and a^ssistance 
have been kindly and liberally extended to me, on my 
various excursions in different quarters, I can only offer 
my sincere thanks, and express the hope that they may 
derive some gratification, if not profit, from the final 
issue of the Survey. 

Washington, Miss. 



^^ 



^■■■^■' ^f^lvli^ii^ 



V 



I. HISTOEICAL OUTLINE. 



In presenting a view of the agriculture of the State, 
and tracing its condition and progress from the first 
occupancy of our territory by a civilized race, a brief 
sketch of the discovery and settlement of the country 
seems appropriate and necessary. Were a precedent 
required to sanction the very abridged historical outline 
here introduced, a distinguished one may be found in 
the able and elaborate memoir that forms the introduc- 
tion to the Reports on the Natural History of New York, 
embracing a much wider scope than is here proposed, 
and comprehending the political history and social pro- 
gress of the State. 

To keep this sketch within the prescribed limits, and 
to exclude all matter not intimately connected with the 
subject, it will be restricted to occurrences strictly within 
the present boundaries of the State, except so far as may 
be necessary to preserve the natural sequence of events. 
It will embrace little more, therefore, than a chrono- 
logical outline, which, if desirable, may, as far as neces- 
sary, be enlarged in the final report of the Survey. 

The State of Mississippi lies between the thirty-first 
and thirty-fifth parallels of north latitude, with the ad- 
dition of that portion lying between the first-mentioned 
2 



18 HISTORICAL OUTLINE. 

parallel and the Gulf of Mexico and Lake Borgne and 
east of Pearl Eiver. On the west it is bounded by the 
Mississippi and Pearl Eivers, and on the east by a line 
dividing it from the State of Alabama, which is drawn 
from the mouth of Bear Creek on the Tennessee River 
to the northwestern corner of "Washington County, Ala- 
bama, and thence south to a point on Grand Bay on the 
Gulf of Mexico, about seventeen miles due west from 
the Bay of Mobile. The State also embraces the islands 
in the Gulf within six leagues of the northern shore, 
the principal of which are Horn, Ship, and Cat Islands. 
The width of the State along the northern boundary 
is one hundred and twenty miles; on the sea-shore 
seventy-eight miles; and along the 31° of north latitude 
one hundred and eighty-six miles. The greatest length 
from north to south is three hundred and thirty miles. 
It embraces an area of 55,500 square miles or 35,520,000 
acres. 

EXPEDITION AND DISCOYEKT BY DE SOTO. 

About the close of the year 1540, Fernando de Soto, 
in his adventurous and romantic expedition, commenced 
the preceding year at the Bay of Espiritu Santo, and 
designed for the conquest of Florida, penetrated to the 
country of the Chickasaws in the northeastern part of 
the State. 

With his shattered and disabled forces, the remnant 
of the most gallant and imposing expedition, for the 
magnificence of its equipage and the rank and opulence 
of those engaged in it, that ever set foot in the New 
world, he sought rest and repose during the winter in 
the Chicaza towns, after nearly two years of continual 
contest and warfare with the Indian tribes that he had 



HISTORICAL OUTLINE. 19 

encountered. Here he continued, notwithstanding his 
disasters and the persevering and galling attacks of the 
Indians, until the 1st of April, 1541. The position of 
this winter encampment is conjectured to have been 
near the northeastern part of Pontitoc County, where, 
it is said, remains of ancient fortifications are still to be 
seen, and relics of European origin probably pertaining 
to this expedition have also been found. Thus, far in 
the interior, distant from the sea- shore, and remote from 
the Mississippi, was the territory of the State first en- 
tered upon by Europeans. 

It is needless to trace his subsequent wanderings if it 
were practicable, even with approximate accuracy, to do 
so. There is little doubt, however, that De Soto 
traversed the country comprising the county now bearing 
his name, and in May of the same year discovered the 
Mississippi River, called by the natives " Cicuaga," at a 
point near the extreme northwestern corner of the 
State.* 

After crossing the Mississippi at or near the Chickasaw 
Bluffs, and consuming another year in fruitless and wast- 
ing excursions far to the west, he returned to the Mis- 
sissippi, where his career was terminated at the village 
of Guachoya, "which was situated on two contiguous 
hills a bow-shot from the Mississippi," probably the site 
of the present town of Hellena in Arkansas,^ and his 

* According to Marbois, the northern Indians, bordering on Canada, 
called the Mississippi the "Namesi-si-pou," or River of Fishes. 

f This is the only point on the western side where the highland or 
"MZs" jut in upon the Mississippi below the Ohio. Some writers 
assign the mouth of the Arkansas, and others that of Red River, as 
the place of De Soto's death; and the town of "Guachoa" is laid 
down on an English map published in 1164 at the latter place. Neither 
of these points, however, answers to the description given of the 



20 HISTORICAL OUTLINE. 

remains were committed to the great river which he was 
the first to discover. 

Still a year later, his followers, now led by Louis de 
Muscoso, failing to reach Mexico by land, returned to 
the same village on the Mississippi, on which the small 
remnant of the expedition, reduced to about three hun- 
dred and fifty survivors, little more than one-fourth of 
the number of which it was first composed, embarked 
on the 2d of July, 1543, for a final departure from the 
country, pursued and sorely harassed by the Indians, and 
arrived at the sea-shore after a voyage of twenty days. 

From this period, for an interval of nearly one hun- 
dred and thirty-eight years, the native tribes were left 
in undisturbed possession of the country ; and it was 
not until February, 1681, when La Salle, accompanied 
by the Chevalier de Tonti, descended the Mississippi 
from Canada, that the country was revisited by Eu- 
ropean adventurers. In April of this year. La Salle, 
having reached the ocean, on his return touched at the 
settlement of the Natchez, from which the hostile bear- 
ing of that people hastened his departure. 

Failing in his subsequent expedition, fitted out in 
France with a view to the establishment of a colony, to 
reach the mouth of the Mississippi by sea, having passed 
to the west of it. La Salle perished miserably in Texas 
by the hands of his despairing and mutinous followers ; 
and another interval of eighteen years elapsed before the 
country was again visited by Europeans. 

site; nor can we suppose that the fugitive remnant of the expedition, 
flying from a pursuing enemy, could have consumed twenty days in 
the descent from Red River to the mouth of the Mississippi. The 
authority of the map is not to be relied upon, since, among other 
inaccuracies, it places New Orleans above the Lafourche. 



HISTORICAL OUTLINE. 21 



AS A COLONY OF FRANCE, 1699—1^63. 

In February, 1699, an expedition led by Iberville ar- 
rived upon the coast, and occupied Ship Island. Iber- 
ville had offered to prosecute the plan of La Salle to 
colonize Louisiana, and under the patronage of Count de 
Pontchartrain, the French minister of marine, was put 
in command of an expedition fitted out at La Rochelle, 
consisting of two frigates and two smaller vessels, to be 
employed in this service. After exploring the shores 
and inlets in that quarter, it was resolved to establish 
the proposed colony on the main land in the vicinity, 
and accordingly a landing was effected on the eastern 
extremity of the Bay of Baluxi. A fort of four bastions, 
with twelve pieces of cannon, was commenced on the 
first of May following, the colonists brought over by 
the expedition numbering about two hundred, including 
women and children, were settled around the fort, and 
the first European settlement was established in Missis- 
sippi. 

Iberville, leaving his brothers in charge of the settle- 
ment, the elder, Sauvolle, as governor, and the younger, 
Bienville, as his lieutenant, set sail on his return to 
France for the purpose of reinforcing the infant colony 
he had founded, and procuring for it the necessary sup- 
plies. 

In July, soon after the departure of Iberville, the 
colony was visited by two missionaries, Montegay and 
Davion, who had wandered from Canada, and had been 
residing among the Indian tribes. Father Davion, who 
had been in turn among the Yazoos and Tunicas, had 
established himself at an eminence on the east side of 
the Mississippi, where an indurated clay or imperfectly 



22 HISTORICAL OUTLmE. 

formed sand rock is seen ; hence the place became known 
to the French as " La Eoche a Davion," (Davion's Rock.) 
It is the point now known as Fort Adams, and the same 
called hy the English, Loftus Heights. 

Bienville, who engaged actively in exploring the passes 
and outlets of the Mississippi, encountered an English 
ship in the river, commanded by Captain Bar, one of two 
vessels sent out by Daniel Cox of New Jersey, to take 
possession of a grant of land of which' he was then the 
proprietor, made by Charles the First of England, in 1630, 
to Sir Robert Heath. It comprised a tract of truly royal 
dimensions, embracing not only the present State of Mis- 
sissippi, but included several other adjoining States. 
Captain Bar, doubting whether the stream he had entered 
was the Mississippi, was easily induced by Bienville to 
retrace his steps ; and the great bend in the river, at 
which his progress was terminated, has ever since been 
known from this circumstance as the "English Turn." 

In December, Iberville returned from France with two 
large armed ships. He hi^ought out Leseur, a Geologist, 
icJio was sent hy the French government to examine a green- 
ish earth or ochre which had heen noticed on the hanhs of 
the Mississippi.^' Furnished with a detachment of twenty 
fnen, Leseur proceeded up to the River St. Peter's, which 
he ascended a considerable distance. A greenish ochre 
was found covering the ground near a copper-mine, thir- 
teen thousand pounds of which were gathered, brought 
to Baluxi and shipped to France ; but no further notice 
appears to have been taken of it. 

In 1700, tire Chevalier de Tonti, hearing of the esta- 
blishment of the French colony, descended the river in a 

* This geological surveying expedition, fitted out within the limits of 
our State, was probably the earliest undertaken on our continent. 



HISTORICAL OUTLINE. 23 

pirogue, accompanied by seven men, to ascertain the 
truth of the report. This was the third voyage of this 
energetic and enterprising man down the Mississippi, 
first in company with La Salle, when he explored the 
river to its mouth, and again for the purpose of meeting 
his old associate and friend, who, he was apprised, was at- 
tempting to enter the MississipjDi by sea, in which he was 
grievously disappointed. De Tonti had distinguished 
himself in the European wars, and had lost a hand, which 
he had had supplied by an artificial substitute of iron, of 
which at times he was wont to make a formidable use, 
and which procured for him the sobriquet of the " Iron 
Hand." He met Iberville and Bienville at Bayou Goula, 
and they accompanied him on his return up the river as 
far as Natchez. There they met with St. Come, a mis- 
sionary from Canada, who had fixed his residence among 
this people. 

The Natchez, greatly advanced beyond the other 
Indian tribes in civilization, had been reduced from a 
once powerful nation, and now numbered only about 
twelve hundred warriors. The Great Sun, as their 
king was termed, welcomed the French at the head of 
a large retinue, borne in state on the shoulders of some 
of his attendants. They were worshippers of the sun, 
and maintained a perpetual fire in their temples. 

One of these, during the visit of the French, was set 
on fire by lightning, when the frenzied and superstitious 
women, at the call of the vociferating and demoniac 
priests, cast their infant children into the flames to ap- 
pease their irritated divinity. 

The country of the Natchez greatly interested Iber- 
ville, who, considering it the most eligible position for 
the principal establishment of the province, selected a 
commanding situation on the river for a town, for which 



24 HISTORICAL OUTLIKE. 

he proposed the name' of Kosalie, in honor of the 
Countess of Pontchartrain. 

Sauvolle died in July, 1701, after the departure of 
Iberville, and was succeeded by Bienville as governor. 

The colonists suffered greatly from the want of pro- 
visions ; and in the fall, disease following in the track of 
famine, many died, the number of survivors being re- 
duced to one hundred and fifty. The return of Iber- 
ville from France, late in December, afforded a timely 
relief. 

Besides the supplies, he brought with him also a re- 
inforcement of troops. 

Under instructions from the king, Bienville moved 
his head-quarters to the western bank of Mobile River, 
leaving a detachment of twenty men in charge of the 
fort at Baluxi. 

A fort, with barracks and stores, was also erected on 
Dauphin Island, which possessed a better port and more 
convenient landing than Ship Island afforded. 

The seat of government of the Province being trans- 
ferred beyond the present limits of the State, and there 
remaining within it but the small settlement at Baluxi, 
it will suffice to state, in reference to the progress of the 
colony for many years, that it was characterized by an 
entire neglect of agricultural pursuits, and that it was 
subjected to great hardships from famine and disease, 
the occasional supplies derived from France, St. Do- 
mingo, and Vera Cruz, being so inadequate as to render 
it necessary occasionally to quarter the troops upon the 
adjacent Indian tribes to gain a precarious subsistence 
by hunting and fishing. 

In the mean time, Iberville had died, and the French 
government, disappointed in the slow progress of the 
colony, the limited extent of its trade, and the utter 



HISTORICAL OUTLINE. 25 

failure in the discovery of minerals to whicli its expec- 
tations had mainly been directed, was induced, in Sep- 
tember, 1712, to make a grant of the colony and its 
exclusive commerce, with extensive privileges, to An- 
thony Crozat, an eminent merchant. 

Bienville, being appointed to the command of the es- 
tablishments on the Mississippi, learning that the Natchez 
had plundered and killed some Frenchmen, led a de- 
tachment of troops against them, in 1716, and, having 
decoyed some of their chiefs into his camp, compelled 
the restoration of the plundered goods and the punish- 
ment of the offenders; after which he accompanied the 
Natchez to their village, and with their assent com- 
menced a fort on the spot Iberville had before chosen. 

It was called Rosalie, and in June a small garrison 
was established in it under the command of an officer 
named Pailloux. 

The earthen mound or embankment which tradition 
points out as the site of this fort, is still to be seen 
crowning the bluff of the river, immediately below and 
in the suburbs of the city of Natchez. 

When the country came under the dominion of Great 
Britain, it was called Fort Panmure, after a barony 
of that name in Scotland, a name it retained during the 
subsequent rule of the Spaniards, being so designated in 
all the grants of land made by that government. 

Three of Crozat's ships arrived in March, 1717, with 
three companies of infantry and fifty new colonists. 
Bienville was superseded as governor ; and although the 
order of knighthood was conferred upon him in reward 
for his services, yet the arrival of L'Epinay, his suc- 
cessor, occasioned him much mortification, which the 
decoration of the cross of St. Louis, and the Royal 
patent conceding him the title to Horn Island, could not 



26 HISTORICAL OUTLINE. 

wholly allay; his populfirity with the colonists, and the 
jealousy of his partisans towards the new chief, occa- 
sioned a schism in the colony very unfavorable to its 
progress. 

Failing to establish a commerce with the Spaniards in 
Mexico, and disappointed in all his expectations, Crozat, 
in August, 1717, surrendered his grant to the king. 

During his administration, a period of about five 
years, neither the commerce nor agriculture of the 
country was increased, and the whole population of 
every description, including the troops, did not exceed 
seven hundred persons. 

Marbois, however, attributes to him more statesman- 
ship than was possessed by the ministers, and adds that 
his plans were wisely conceived, and as far as depended 
upon him he sent to the colony only robust and indus- 
trious people, and families recommended by their morals, 
who were the only settlers that succeeded. 

In September, 1717, a charter was granted to a new 
corporation, styled the "Western Company," which 
originated with the celebrated Scotch adventurer and 
financier Law, a protege of the Eegent Duke of Orleans. 
It was also known as the "Mississippi Scheme." 

The lands, coasts, harbors, and islands of the colony 
were granted to this company for a term of twenty-five 
years from the 1st of January, 1718, with the exclusive 
commerce, in which all other Erench subjects were pro- 
hibited from engaging. 

The company was authorized to nominate the go- 
vernor and other officers, to grant lands, to levy troops, 
make treaties, and wage war with the Indians, and 
generally to exercise the most unlimited and extraor- 
dinary powers. 

On its part, the company engaged to introduce, during 



HISTORICAL OUTLINE. 27 

the term of its privilege, six thousand whites and three 
thousand negroes. 

Of this powerful and privileged company, John Law 
was appointed Director-General. 

One of the first acts of the company, in February, 
1718, was to recall L'Epinay, and to reinstate Bienville 
as governor — a measure which gave great satisfaction 
to the troops, and to the inhabitants generally. 

The failure of the plans of Crozat induced the com- 
pany to turn its attention to the introduction of agricul- 
ture, as promising better results than the fruitless search- 
ing for mines, or prosecuting a commerce so trivial as 
that derived from the traffic with the Indian tribes. 

As the most effectual mode of encouraging agricul- 
tural enterprise, it was deemed expedient to make con- 
siderable concessions of land to wealthy and powerful 
personages: among these were grants of large extent, 
on the Yazoo Eiver, to a company consisting of Le 
Blanc, Count de Belleville, Leblond, and others; and on 
St. Catharine's Creek, near Fort Rosalie, to Hubert, and a 
company of merchants of St. Maloes. The Bay of St. 
Louis was granted to Madame de Mezieres, and Pasca- 
goula Bay to Madame de Chaumont. 

The condition of all such grants was, the introduction 
of a certain number of emigrants upon them within a 
stated time. 

The experiment seems not to have been wholly suc- 
cessful; a few destitute peasants were first sent out to 
improve these lands, many of whom were prematurely 
swept away by the diseases attending the improvement 
of a new country and a change of climate. 

Experience also showed that, although these large 
grants facilitated the transportation of settlers, little was 
obtained from the labor of men brought over from a dis- 



28 HISTORICAL OUTLINE. 

tant clime to cultivate lands, the proprietors of which 
remained behind. 

It was a fatal error that the plantations had not been 
established nearer together for mutual protection. As 
Marbois remarks, the colonists feeling free from restraint 
settled wherever fancy or hope conducted them, indifferent 
even to the sanction of a grant to secure their possessions ; 
they scattered themselves among the natives, and taking 
the Indian women for wives, were cordially received, and 
by right incorporated into the tribe. 

In June, 1718, De la Housaye and Scouvion, with 
their followers, eighty-two in number, settled upon the 
Yazoo. Of the emigrants of 1720, three hundred were 
destined for Natchez, and three hundred and ninety for 
the Yazoo. 

Three hundred colonists arrived in 1721, for the lands 
of Madame de Chaumont, at Pascagoula. 

In 1719, Bigart had been sent with a small detachment 
to the Yazoo River, where he built Fort St. Peter's. War 
having broken out between France and Spain the same 
year, the attention of the colonists was mainly directed 
to attacks upon the Spanish possessions. Pensacola was 
taken without resistance, but was surrendered again 
in August to a force sent from Havana to retake it. 
Three ships of the line arriving on the 1st of September, 
the place was again taken by the French with the Spanish 
shipping and eighteen hundred prisoners. 

In the summer and fall of 1720, Beaumanoir brought 
over sixty settlers to the grant on the St. Catharine's. 
In May, 1720, after a brief existence of little more than 
two years, the Eoyal Bank established by Law, and with 
which the company was intimately connected, failed; 
and in December, Law was compelled to fly from France, 



HISTORICAL OUTLINE. 29 

attended bj a universal malediction, an object of popular 
abhorrence. 

A change in the seat of government being again deter- 
mined upon by the directors of the company's concerns, 
in opposition to the views of Bienville and Hubert, the 
Bay of Baluxi was chosen for that purpose ; a detachment 
of troops was sent to the western shore of the bay to erect 
houses and barracks, and the place thenceforth became 
known as New Baluxi. 

The privileges and powers of the Mississippi Company 
had been greatly enlarged by the acquisition of the pos- 
sessions and effects of the China and India Companies, 
which were dissolved ; and from that time it assumed 
the style and became known as the Company of the 
Indies. 

Although a peremptory order had been given for the 
removal to Baluxi, both Bienville and Hubert were op- 
posed to it; the former thought New Orleans was the 
most eligible site, and the latter went to France to induce 
the directors of the company to decide in favor of Nat- 
chez, near which, on the St. Catharine's, he had an im- 
mense grant with a large plantation and considerable im- 
provements. He was unsuccessful in his mission, and 
died a few days after his arrival. Finally, after consider- 
able delay and opposition in the summer of 1722, the 
order of council was executed, and Bienville and his staff 
removed to Baluxi. 

Large additions to the colony had been made the pre- 
vious year, chiefly of Germans, and negroes from the coast 
of Africa. On the 4th of June, 1722, a company's ship, 
commanded by the Chevalier d'Arensbourg, brought over 
two hundred and fifty Germans. 

With this vessel came the confirmation of the utter 
failure of Law and his schemes, and the consequent ruin 



30 HISTOKICAL OUT-LINE. 

and distress which had ensued in France. This intelli- 
gence was received with great dismay, and an appre- 
hension was felt that the affairs of the colony, if not 
wholly neglected, would be prosecuted with less vigor; 
an apprehension soon realized to some extent in the 
failure of supplies. To provide against impending famine, 
the troops were distributed in small detachments on 
Pearl River and Pascagoula, among the Indian tribes, to 
procure subsistence by hunting and fishing. 

Exasperated by hunger and distress, some of these 
mutinied, and attempted to reach the English settlements 
in Carolina. The Indians were sent in pursuit, and all of 
them were captured or slain. The arrival of a ship in Sep- 
tember afforded some relief, and it was learned that the 
Regent, after the failure and flight of Law, had placed 
the affairs of the company under the direction of three 
Commissioners. 

In December of this year, Father Charlevoix descended 
the Mississippi River from Canada ; he visited the fort on 
the Yazoo, and spent his Christmas in Natchez. At that 
time, according to his account, the company had a ware- 
house, in charge of Seur Le Noir, at the latter place ; the 
appearance of the country he describes as very agreeable, 
extensive meadows and handsome clumps of trees pre- 
senting themselves on every side, after surmounting the 
hill at the landing-place. Fort Rosalie is spoken of by 
him as a Idnd of redoubt inclosed with a single palisade. 

The great village of the Natchez was situated near the 
St. Catharine, a few miles from the river, and about mid- 
way between the two French grants which formed a tri- 
angle with the fort, being distant from the latter and 
each other about one league ; the St. Maloes grant being 
the lowermost on the creek, which discharged itself into 
the Mississippi about three leagues below. He describes 



HISTORICAL OUTLINE. 31 

this plantation as being ^^ screened on all the hack parts hy 
a magnificent cypress forest." 

The village of the Natchez he represents as reduced to 
a very few cabins; the more populous towns of the tribe 
|)eing at some distance, in order to be more out of the 
reach of the Great Chief, or Sun, who had a right to take 
from his subjects anything they possessed. 

The Tioux, allies of the Natchez, had a village in the 
neighborhood. 

Charlevoix regarded the country about Natchez the 
finest and most fertile in all Louisiana. 

In January, 1723, Laharpe, on his way to the Arkan- 
sas, touched at Natchez, and found Port Rosalie in a state 
of ruinous decay. Maneval, who commanded it, having 
only eighteen soldiers. Ascending the Yazoo River at 
the distance of nine miles from the mouth, he reached 
the settlement called Fort St. Peter, commanded by De 
Grave. According to his statement, there was not more 
than thirty acres of arable land surrounding the fort, 
which was hemmed in by stony hills. The site of this 
fort was at the place now known as Hayne's Bluff, where 
the limestone is seen cropping out of the base of the hills. 
A group of mounds, one of them of considerable size, and 
about thirty feet high, is situated near the spot. 

At that period, the Mississippi still flowed through 
what is now known as Old River ; the cut-off, or present 
channel of the river, according to Charlevoix, having 
been recently formed, was not passable for boats, except 
at a hio:h sta2;e of water. 

In May, the copper coinage provided for the colony 
arrived at Baluxi. It was ordered to be used in pay- 
ment of the troops, and was made a lawful tender in the 
company's stores. Specimens of this coin have been 
found at St. Peter's, and at several other points in the 



32 HISTORICAL OUTLINE. 

State, formerly occupied by the French. An earthen 
vessel of Indian fabric containing several pieces of it was 
dug, some years since, from an Indian mound near the 
mouth of Pearl River. 

One of these coins, found on the reputed site of the 
governor's quarters in New Baluxi, is preserved in the 
State cabinet; and a similar one, from the mound, in the 
cabinet of the State university. These coins bear date 
in 1721 and 1722. They bear on the face the cipher 
of Louis, the French monarch, surmounted by a crown, 
and surrounded by the legend, " Sit nomen domini bene- 
dictum." Across the reverse is inscribed : " Colonies 
FranQoises," with the date below.* 

The seat of government was again removed beyond 
the present limits of the State, and Bienville, in accom- 
plishment of his long-cherished desire, fixed his head- 
quarters at New Orleans. 

In September, a destructive tornado desolated the 
Province, prostrating many houses in New Orleans, and 
extending to Baluxi and Natchez; the crops were de- 
stroyed, and the inhabitants were menaced with im- 
pending dearth. An unexpected crop of rice, however, 
springing from the seed scattered by the hurricane, 
promised some relief 

The Indian tribes were becoming more open in their 
hostilities. 

In 1723, a predatory band of Chickasaws killed a 
sergeant belonging to the garrison at St. Peter's, and his 
wife. The Natchez also became involved in an affray 
with a sergeant at Fort Rosalie, in which an Indian was 
killed; the Indians retaliated, and in considerable 
force attacked the settlement, but were repulsed with 

* See Plate. 



HISTORICAL OUTLINE. 33 

the loss of several of their number. Guenot, the di- 
rector of the grant on St. Catharine, was fired upon and 
wounded; some negroes were shot; two planters were 
taken and their heads cut off, and a number of cattle 
and horses were stolen. When Dustine, an officer of 
the garrison, arrived at New Orleans, bringing this in- 
telligence, two suns of the Natchez were on a visit to 
Bienville. No punishment was inflicted upon the 
offending Indians; but these chiefs were dismissed with 
presents, under a pledge to put a stop to these outrages. 

In consideration of the spiritual wants of the pro- 
vince, a number of Jesuits, and monks of other orders, 
as well as nuns, were introduced into the colony, and 
liberally provided for by the company, and curates were 
also provided for the missions. 

For several years, great distress was felt in the colony, 
growing out of the failure of Law's Scheme^ and the 
attempts of the French government to regulate the 
currency, and to palliate the consequent embarrassment 
by the alteration of the value of money. 

The colony, notwithstanding, had made rapid strides 
since it passed under the charge of the company. The 
military force had increased to eight hundred men. 
Twenty-five hundred redemptioners, and eighteen hun- 
dred Africans had been introduced, and agriculture had 
engaged to a greater extent the attention of European 
capitalists. 

In 1724, Bienville was called to France to answer to 
charges preferred against him. Notwithstanding his 
able defence, he was removed, and Perrier was appointed 
in his stead on the 9th of August, 1726. 

Of the Indian tribes occupying the country at the 
period of its settlement by the French, the Choctaws, 
Chickasaws, and the Natchez were the most numerous. 
3 



34 HISTOEICAL OUTLINE. 

There were many otters, however, though too feeble 
and insignificant to merit more than a passing notice. 

Among these were the Baluxis and Pascagoulas to 
the south. The Yazoos, lonicas, Coroas, OfFagoulas, 
Otasees, Chachoumas, Outayhis, and the Tapouches were 
distributed along the Yazoo and its tributaries. 

Of the larger tribes, the Choctaws were by far the 
most numerous and powerful. They owned fifty im- 
portant villages, and could assemble twenty thousand 
warriors. They were first attached to the French, who 
managed, by their diplomacy and presents, to retain, 
throughout, a large majority of them in their interest. 

The Chickasaws are described as a turbulent, warlike, 
and ferocious race; from their intercourse and trade 
with the English of Carolina, they espoused their in- 
terest, and were readily engaged in hostilities towards 
the French, and were consequently embroiled in con- 
tinual warfare with the Choctaws. 

The Natchez, by far the most enlightened and furthest 
removed from barbarism, were rapidly declining from 
the condition of a numerous and once powerful tribe. 
The institution of human sacrifices engrafted into their 
theology was the most efficient cause of their rapid 
course towards extinction. They were pacific in their 
disposition ; but the French, by their harshness and en- 
croachments upon their rights, forfeited their friendship 
and provoked their deadly hostility. 

It was the policy of Bienville, and most of the other 
governors, for the security of the colony from the united 
hostilities of the Indians, against which it could not 
have existed, to encourage the feuds among themselves. 

The Choctaws, the most powerful of these, were con- 
ciliated, and aided in repelling the attacks of their chief 
enemy, the Chickasaws, until, in turn, they became 



HISTOEICAL OUTLINE. 35 

their persevering and victorious assailants. This 
was done chiefly by keeping the traffic with them in 
their own hands, to the exclusion of the English traders 
of the Carolinas, and by supplying them with goods 
suited to their wants. 

Perrier, as the successor of Bienville, proved more 
harsh and less politic in his intercourse with his Indian 
neighbors ; and when, from the failure of .the necessary 
remittances from France, it became impossible to supply 
all the wants of their red allies, and to make them the 
customary presents, a considerable faction of the Choc- 
taws became disaffected, and united with the Chickasaws 
in a scheme of general and concerted hostility with a 
view to the total destruction of the French colony in all 
its settlements; and although this design was suspected, 
and for the time disconcerted and postponed, the day 
was approaching when the French colonists were to re- 
ceive a severe and ruinous blow. 

The commandant at Natchez under Perrier, an officer 
named Chepar, was a man of intemperate habits, and 
of overweening vanity and self-importance. Professing 
an utter contempt for the Natchez, his conduct towards 
them was severe and exacting. 

On a beautiful and elevated plain on the western 
margin of Second Creek, about ten miles from Fort 
Rosalie, was situated the "Whiteapple Village." A 
group of mounds, two of them of considerable elevation 
and extent, yet clothed with stately elms and evergreen 
oaks, which have spread their umbrageous shades over 
them for centuries, and which the good taste of the past 
and present proprietors have religiously preserved, still 
marks the spot. The land embracing this favorite vil- 
lage of the Natchez was coveted by Chepar. 

Alledns; the orders of Perrier, the surrender of it was 



36 HISTORICAL OUTLINE. 

rudely demanded, with a threat to seize it by force if not 
voluntarily yielded before a stated period, which was not 
remote. 

The Natchez could not bring themselves to submit to 
this new act of aggression. But their remonstrances 
were unheard, nor was the offer of other lands as an 
equivalent embraced. They were constrained, there- 
fore, to feign a reluctant acquiescence in the demand. 

The suns and chieftains of the different villages held 
a secret council, and, resolving against submission, de- 
termined themselves to become the principals, instead of 
auxiliaries in the conspiracy against the French. Ac- 
cordingly, they set to work to secure the co-operation of 
other tribes hostile to the French, and to destroy the 
whole settlement. 

The necessary messengers were dispatched, each pro- 
vided with a bundle of sticks of equal numbers, one of 
which was to be withdrawn daily, to insure a concert of 
action between the allies, the attack to be made on the 
day that the last stick was removed. 

This conspiracy was designed to be kept a profound 
secret among the chiefs, and especially from the women, 
some of whom were known to be too well affected to 
their French neighbors. That some secret and moment- 
ous measure was on foot was soon divined by one of the 
most shrewd and observant of the female suns, who, se- 
verely upbraiding her son in private for his want of con- 
fidence in her, artfully drew from him the details of the 
plot, which she lost no time in imparting to an officer of 
the garrison ; but her warning was unheeded. 

Chepar, deluded into false security by the address of 
the chiefs, with whom he was even engaged in drunken 
revels on the very eve of his destruction, would listen 
to no caution, or credit any intimation of the intended 



HISTORICAL OUTLINE. 37 

assault. Not satisfied with this, the female sun, having 
in consideration of her rank access to the fane in which 
the bundle of sticks for her village was kept, secretly 
withdrew one or two of them at a time, trusting thus, 
by precipitating the attack by the Natchez before the 
arrival of the confederates, to afford the French a fur- 
ther chance of escape. 

Deceived by this artifice, and tempted also by the 
arrival of some boats laden with merchandise just landed 
from New Orleans, on the morning of the 29th of No- 
vember, 1729, before the arrival of the day first ap- 
pointed, a simultaneous attack upon the garrison, town, 
and different plantations was made, a shot fired upon 
the boats, by a party who had secretly descended the 
hill for that purpose, being the concerted signal. So well 
was the attack planned that, in less than three hours, 
upwards of two hundred Frenchmen were massacred, 
two only, a carpenter and tailor, being spared. Ninety- 
two women and one hundred and fifty-five children, 
and all the negroes, w^ere captured. 

The usual atrocities practised by savages ensued -, the 
fort, houses, and boats were pillaged; and the liquor ob- 
tained furnished the means of a long-continued scene of 
carousal and debauchery. 

A few only escaped, and succeeded in reaching New 
Orleans, bearing the first intelligence of this sad disaster. 

The first of these who arrived was Richard, followed 
shortly after by Couillard, and a few others. 

Among the principal persons who fell were the Kol- 
lys, father and son, who had just arrived to take pos- 
session of the grant of Hubert on the St. Catharine's, 
which they had purchased. One house only, that of 
Laloire, the principal agent of the company at the post, 
made any defence. This was made good through the 



SS* HISTORICAL OUTLINE. 

day witli the loss of six* out of eight men, by whom it 
was defended. The two survivors escaped under cover 
of the night. 

Laloire himself, who chanced to be on horseback when 
the attack commenced, defended himself bravely, and 
killed four Indians before he fell; these, with eight 
others killed from his house, twelve in all, constituted 
the entire loss of the Natchez. 

As to Chepar, he was held in such contempt and ab- 
horrence, that death by the hands of a warrior was 
deemed too honorable for him, and at the conclusion of 
the massacre he was dragged from the garden to which 
he had fled, and beat to death with clubs by the most 
degraded of the Natchez race. 

The destruction of the fort at Natchez being com- 
plete, and the habitations of the French reduced to 
ashes, some of the Yazoo tribe who were present at the 
massacre, accompanied by a party of Natchez, pro- 
ceeded to the settlement on the Yazoo. The fort was 
garrisoned by only twenty men, and the commander, 
Du Codier, having already perished at Natchez, where 
he chanced to be on a visit at the time of the massacre, 
was easily surprised, and the soldiers and the few fami- 
lies settled near it were put to death. 

Thus the French settlement on the Yazoo was en- 
tirely destroyed about the 1st of January, 1730. 

It has been charged that the Choctaws were to have 
aided in this massacre, and to have made a simultaneous 
attack upon New Orleans; and that, in consequence of 
the derangement of all their plans, and their disappoint- 
ment in not sharing the plunder, by the premature attack 
made by the Natchez, they determined to avenge them- 
selves by the destruction of that people. 

How far other and better motives may have operated 



HISTORICAL OUTLINE. " 39 

with some of the principal chiefs and their followers, 
they co-operated afterwards with the French, not only 
against the Natchez, but subsequently, in the war that 
ensued with the Chickasaws, with general fidelity and 
efficiency. 

No sooner had they learned that the Natchez threat- 
ened to put to death the women and children that had 
been captured, than they assembled a considerable force, 
headed by Leseur, a Frenchman, and attacked the 
Natchez on the 27th of January, whilst revelling on the 
banks of the St. Catharine, killed many of them, rescued 
the carpenter and tailor, and upwards of fifty French 
women and children, recovering at the same time about 
one hundred of the negroes. In this attack fell the 
chief who had instigated the Natchez massacre. 

Perrier, the governor, who was assembling a force at 
Tunica to march against the Natchez, was less prompt 
in his movements. 

The Choctaws had marched a great distance by land, 
and were compelled to wait for many days for the ar- 
rival of the French, with whom they were to co-operate ; 
and it was not until the fourteenth that Loubois, the 
French commander, after fruitless parleyings, had posted 
his artillery, and made his arrangements for an attack 
upon the forts in which the Natchez had entrenched 
themselves. The guns of the French were mounted on 
the mound on which stood the great temple, and com- 
manded the forts of the Indians ; they were, however, 
only four pounders, hardly fit for service, and so badly 
managed that they made little impression. The In- 
dians opposed three pieces, whicii were still more clum- 
sily handled. More than ten days were consumed in 
this siege. 

On the 15th, intimidated by the more active prepara- 



40 HISTORICAL OUTLINE. 

tions made by the French, but more by the threats of 
Ahbamo Mengo, one of the most formidable of the 
Choctaw chiefs, the Natchez were brought to terms; and 
on the 27tb, delivered to the hands of the Choctaws all 
the women and children, and most of the negroes in 
their possession. 

On the night of the 18th, eluding the vigilance of the 
besiegers, or, as some assert, witJi the connivance of the 
French ! they made their escape, crossed the Mississippi, 
and took refuge among the Washitas. 

Thus, with the escape of the Natchez, ended this ex- 
pedition, so little creditable to the French arms, in which 
the rescue of the captured women and children, and 
whatever else of success attended it, were owing mainly 
to their Choctaw confederates. 

The women and children thus rescued were sent down 
the river to New Orleans, and most of them were 
eventually settled on concessions of land made to them 
at Point Coupie. The country being thus abandoned, 
the French commenced the erection of a brick fort, the 
command of which, with a garrison of one hundred 
men, was given to the Baron de Cresnay. 

Another expedition was set on foot, at the head of 
which Perrier placed himself, and in January, 1731, 
having discovered the place of retreat, and the fortified 
camp of the Natchez, near the junction of the Washita 
and Tensas, eventually succeeded in capturing forty-five 
men and four hundred and fifty women and children ; 
the others escaped. 

The prisoners captured by Perrier, including two suns 
and a princess, were taken to New Orleans, transported 
to San Domingo, and sold into slavery.* 

* In January, 1131, application having been made to M. de Maure- 
pas to relieve the company of the expense incurred on account of 



HISTORICAL OUTLINE. 41 

Altliougli driven from their country, and destroyed as 
a separate nation, the Natchez were not exterminated. 
Those who escaped from Perrier were headed by the 
Chief of the Flour, who led such of his tribe as he 
could collect against St. Deyns at the Post of Natchi- 
toches, whom he attacked with a force of about two 
hundred warriors ; but he was repulsed. 

Pursuing his advantage, St. Denys, at the head of his 
small force, a few Spaniards and an inconsiderable num- 
ber of Natchitoches Indians, sallied out, forced the en- 
trenched camp of the Natchez, killed ninety-two of 
them, including all of their chiefs, and put the rest to 
flight. Thus St. Denys, with a very inconsiderable 
force, inflicted upon the Natchez the most fatal blow 
they had yet received. 

The survivors of this fated race were now scattered 
among the Washitas and other small tribes ; but most 
of them sought an asylum among the Chickasaws, with 
whom they '^incorporated themselves. They continued 
for several years, in conjunction with the latter tribe, to 
attack and harass the French on all favorable occasions, 
and still numbered two hundred warriors. 

When informed of these disasters, the company of the 
Indies decided that it was impracticable to sustain any 
longer so profitless and expensive a colony, and the di- 
rectors proposed to surrender to the king the charter, 
the obligations of which it was thought would involve 
it in ruin. After much negotiation, the retrocession was 
accepted, the French government resumed the adminis- 
tration of the colony, and on the 15 th of November, 

these Indian families at Cape Francois, he replied that he was not 
aware of any other course to adopt than to order their sale or to send 
them back to Louisiana. They were thereupon ordered to be sold. — 
Marhois. 



42 HISTORICAL OUTLINE. 

1731, issued the necessary ordinances for winding up 
the affairs of the company, which, after a struggle of 
fourteen years, had failed to fulfil its sanguine but 
visionary expectations. 

The hostile disposition of the Indians, which had been 
so disastrous, and which seemed to be extending to all 
the tribes, was attributed in a great degree to the harsh- 
ness of Perrier ; and the return of Bienville was urged 
under the belief that his mildness and humanity would 
conciliate the Indians, with many of whom he had ever 
been a favorite, and possessed great influence. Accord- 
ingly, under the new organization of the colony, Bien- 
ville was reappointed governor in 1734, and on his ar- 
rival, which was hailed with much joy by the colonists, 
Perrier returned to France. 

From this period until near the close of the French 
rule, the country embraced in the limits of the State 
was little more than the theatre of Indian hostilities and 
warfare. 

The Natchez and the Yazoos, who had taken refuge 
among the Chickasaws, resumed their predatory war 
upon the remote settlements of the colony, in which the 
Chickasaws frequently united with them, and intercept- 
ed or obstructed all communication by the way of the 
Mississippi. Bienville, therefore, sent an officer to the 
Chickasaws to demand that the Natchez should be given 
up. This being refused, he commenced the preparation 
of an expedition against them. Leblanc, one of his 
officers, was sent with orders to the Chevalier d'Arta- 
guette, who was in command at Fort Chartres in the 
Illinois, to repair to the country of the Chickasaws, with 
all the French and Indians he could collect, to co-ope- 
rate with the troops to be sent from New Orleans by 



HISTORICAL OUTLINE. 43 

way of Mobile and the Tombigbee River about the 10 th 
of May. 

The party of Leblanc, although attacked by the ene- 
my near the Yazoo Kiver, reached its destination. 
Another officer was sent among the Choctaws, and by 
the aid of liberal presents engaged the chiefs to unite 
their warriors with the force Bienville proposed to lead 
from New Orleans. 

The Chevalier d'Artaguette had distinguished himself 
in the war with the Natchez, and had subsequently been 
placed in command of the Fort at Natchez. In obedi- 
ence to his orders, with such forces as he could assemble, 
he repaired to the place of rendezvous on the 9 th of 
May, the day previous to that on which he was directed 
to arrive. He encamped in sight of the enemy until 
the 20th, when he was no longer able to restrain his 
auxiliaries, who determined to fight or withdraw. 

Thus situated, he embraced the first alternative, and 
with an impetuous charge drove the enemy from the 
fort before which he was encamped, and the village it 
protected ; the second fort was carried with equal gal- 
lantry; and he was in full pursuit of the foe, retreating 
to their third and last entrenchment when, unfortunately, 
he fell under repeated wounds. His Indian confederates 
now basely deserted him, and fled in all directions. 
Forty-eight soldiers, all he could bring with him, and 
Father Senac, his chaplain, stood bravely by in defence 
of their prostrate leader ; but they were too few to re- 
sist the overwhelming force by which they were assailed. 
Overpowered by numbers, many of them were captured 
and led prisoners, with their wounded chief, to the 
fort. 

And where was Bienville and his army in the mean 
time? Having sent before a strong detachment to erect 



44 HISTORICAL OUTLINE. 

a fort on the Tombigbee, two hundred and fifty miles 
above Mobile, as a depot for his provisions and ammuni- 
tion, with the regular troops at his disposal, two compa- 
nies of militia and nearly fifty negroes ofiicered by free 
blacks, a force amounting altogether to nearly six hun- 
dred men, he embarked on the Bayou St. John with 
thirty boats on the 4th of March, and did not arrive at 
the fort on the Tombigbee until the 20th of April. On 
the 4tli of May he reached his landing-place within 
twenty-seven miles only of the nearest Chickasaw vil- 
lage ; here the last detachment of his Choctaw auxilia- 
ries joined him, amounting in the whole now to twelve 
hundred warriors. Here they loitered, erecting houses 
and stores, within a day's march of the enemy, for more 
than twenty days.* 

At last their march commenced, and on the following 
day, the 26th of May, 1736, at noon, the army arrived 
before an entrenched village protected by a strongly 
constructed fort. 

The British flag was flying, and several Englishmen 
were observed in the fort, which was surrounded by thick 
palisades pierced with loopholes for firing through ; and 
within, the Indians were further protected by trenches, 
from which they could securely fire without exposing 
themselves to the shot of their assailants. 

Bienville wished to avoid this village, and attack a 
neighboring one of the Natchez, against whom the ex- 
pedition was chiefly designed ; but the Choctaws, sup- 
posing this town would yield the most plunder and 

* This landing-place and depot of Bienville was doubtless at the 
point now known as Cotton-gin Port. Since the settlement of the 
country by the present inhabitants, two small field-pieces and a bos 
of bullets have been here recovered from the river, into which they 
were probably thrown on the retreat of the French army. 



HISTORICAL OUTLINE. 45 

afford some provisions, of which they began to be in 
need, overruled the designs of the commander. 

Against this stronghold the force of Bienville was 
therefore led, powerless to inflict damage on an enemy 
thus protected, whilst the assailants were exposed and 
galled by an incessant shower of balls, which, however, 
was sustained for several hours, when, several of the 
best officers being killed or disabled, a retreat was or- 
dered, after a loss of thirty-two killed and sixty-one 
wounded. 

The French did not renew the attack. The following 
day the Choctaws had some desultory skirmishing with 
the enemy, and on the 29th the army commenced its 
retreat for the landing-place, where it arrived on the 
third day with the wounded. After distributing the 
remainder of his goods to his Choctaw allies, Bienville 
re-embarked his troops, floated down the river, and re- 
turned to New Orleans ; thus terminating a most disas- 
trous expedition, reflecting the deepest disgrace upon 
the French arms, the prowess of which was lowered im- 
measurably in the estimation of the savage foe. 

In the mean time, the gallant but unfortunate D' Arta- 
guette, suffering with his wounds, had been kept a pri- 
soner, with his captured companions, under the belief 
that their ransom would secure favorable terms from 
Bienville, of whose imposing force, on its approach, they 
were in great dread. When it was known that he had 
been repulsed, and had ingloriously withdrawn, these 
gallant men were brought out into the plain, and D'Ar- 
taguette. Father Senac, and fifteen others were burned 
alive. A sergeant of D'Artaguette's party succeeded in 
obtaining his liberty, reached New Orleans on the 1st of 
July, and made known the fate of his gallant commander. 

The foregoing account of this unfortunate expedition 



46 HISTORICAL OUTLINE. 

is derived mainly from Martins Louisiana. Gayerre 
gives a somewhat different version. According to his 
account, the force of D'Artaguette was much greater 
than rej)resented ; and his attack, although sufficiently 
gallant, was less successful. He had also been apprised 
by a messenger of the delay of Bienville, and the cause. 

The battle of Ackia was so called from the town of 
that name, on which the attack was made. It was 
situated, among several other villages, in a beautiful 
prairie of about six miles in extent, probably near the 
site of De Soto's encampment of 1541.* 

The attack on this point was, as has been stated, made 
contrary to the judgment and wishes of Bienville, to 
accommodate the views of his Choctaw confederates, 
who, however, during the fight, kept at a very safe dis- 
tance, wasting their ammunition and expending all their 
valor in the most savage yells, adding to the horrors of 
the fray. 

The French officers were also deserted by the larger 
portion of their men, whom it was impossible to force 
into battle. 

Feats of daring heroism were performed by the officers 
and a few of the men, many of the former being killed 
or wounded. Among the slain were the Chevalier 
d'Contre Coeur, Captain De Lusser, and D'Jusan. Of the 

* The Chickasaws appear to have been much harassed at an early 
period by the Northern Indians, and for common defence were settled 
in contiguous villages at the place known now as Old Town, in Ponto- 
toc County. It was not until after the British sent Mcintosh among 
them as' agent, that they were induced to leave their towns «.nd form 
separate settlements. To effect this dispersion, considered essential 
to the welfare of the nation, the agent established himself at a place 
near Tocshish, in the same county, represented in the early maps of 
the country as Mclntoshville. 



HISTORICAL OUTLINE. 47 

wounded; were the Chevalier d'Noyan, the nephew of 
Bienville, who led the attack, D'Hautrive, Grondel, and 
others. It is due to the reputation of Bienville to say 
that he alleged, in defence of his retreat, that he had 
reason to apprehend the desertion of the Choctaws, and 
could place no reliance upon the cowardly vagabonds 
who had been sent him as soldiers, very few of whom 
were five feet in height, and many of them under that 
stature. 

A second expedition against the unsubdued Chicka- 
saws was recommended to the French government by 
Bienville, to proceed up the Mississippi, instead of by 
the more direct and truly less objectionable route up the 
Tombigbee, formerly pursued, to be undertaken when 
the proper force, and an armament suited to the object, 
could be furnished. 

The plan was approved, and, after considerable delay, 
Bienville was supplied with artillery, arms, ammunition, 
and provisions, and seven hundred men. With these 
was M. de Noailles d'Aime, with bombardiers, cannoniers, 
and miners, to be used in this second expedition if 
deemed of absolute utility. 

D'Noailles was especially recommended "as having 
the necessary talents and experience to command," an 
intimation that implied a doubt very mortifying to Bien- 
ville of his own fitness for such service. 

The greater part of the year 1739 was occupied with 
preparations for this expedition. 

In the mean time, the Choctaws had become somewhat 
disaffected, and many of them had espoused the English 
interest. This produced a civil war among them, in 
which the French party were predominant, and contin- 
ued to harass the Chickasaws; and the English traders 
were plundered and put to flight. 



48 HISTORICAL OUTLINE. 

D'Noyan, who was sent into the nation, succeeded in 
engaging thirty-two out of forty-two villages in the 
French cause, and parties of warriors were formed to 
unite in the great expedition now on foot. 

In August, 1739, D'Noyan, with the advance guard of 
the army, arrived near the site of the present city of 
Memphis, the place of rendezvous appointed ; the troops 
from Illinois and Canada, including a company of cadets 
under Celeron, soon after joined him, and whilst await- 
ing the arrival of the main body of the army, erected a 
fort called Assumption. 

Bienville, leaving New Orleans on the 12th of Sep- 
tember, claims much credit for the celerity of his move- 
ments in arriving with his army in only two months. 

Much precious time had already been lost; the troops 
fresh from Europe, and from the more northern districts, 
exposed for months during the most sickly season to the 
miasma of the river bottom, became fatally diseased, and 
a large number of them perished. 

Bienville's force, when reviewed after his arrival on 
the 12th of November, amounted to twelve hundred 
white men, and two thousand four hundred Indians. 
Yet, with this imposing force, under the pretence of 
seeking a practicable road to the Chickasaw towns, the 
army remained here inactive in a state of indecision 
until February, 1740, when, their provisions becoming 
nearly exhausted, a council of war, composed of the 
principal officers of the expedition, decided that, under 
all the untoward circumstances, it would be liazarding 
the reputation of the king's arms to march against the 
enemy. 

The most remarkable feature of this affair was that, 
after the principal part of the army had moved off down 
the Mississippi, Celeron led his company of cadets, to- 



HISTORICAL OUTLINE. 49 

getlier with about one hundred Frenchmen and four or 
five hundred Indians, against the Chickasaw towns, and 
those Indians, alarmed at the vast preparations the 
French had made, and believing Celeron's party was only 
the advance guard of the French army, presented them- 
selves before him, and sued for peace in the humblest 
terms, promising to deliver up the Natchez in their pos- 
session, and to exterminate the rest of that doomed race. 
Celeron, accepting the terms, dispatched some of the 
chiefs after Bienville, who was overtaken on the Missis- 
sippi, and concluded a peace with them on the proposed 
conditions, not including the Choctaws, however, in this 
pacific arrangement, that nation being left free to prose- 
cute their hostilities at pleasure. 

The Chickasaws, according to the stipulation of the 
treaty, delivered a few of the Natchez to Celeron, who 
transferred them to New Orleans, and after demolishing 
Fort Assumption, returned to Canada, being the only 
ofiicer who had distinguished himself or gained any 
reputation in this pompous and abortive expedition. 

The miserable remnant of the Natchez, finding no 
longer any security among their late friends, retired 
finally among the Cherokees in Georgia, with whom they 
found a secure asylum, and in time became merged in 
that nation. 

In 1741, the Marquis of Vaudreuil was appointed 
governor of Louisiana, and Bienville, who had asked to 
be recalled, left the province for France, never more to 
return, much esteemed and regretted by the colonists. 
For more than forty years he had been connected with 
the colony, remaining in it continually, except during 
the administration of Perrier, and most of that time as 
the chief in command. He was perhaps more devoted to 
its interests, and did more to advance them than any 
4 



50 HISTORICAL OUTLINE. 

other individual ; but he was peculiarly unfortunate in 
his expeditions against the Chickasaws, for his failure in 
which the attempted defence in his dispatches to the 
French government did not satisfactorily account nor 
wholly excuse. 

Of the condition and progress of that part of the 
colouy, embraced within the limits of our State, for 
more than twenty succeeding years, the accounts of his- 
torians are meagre and unsatisfactory in the extreme. 

We have therefore little to chronicle during that long 
period ; yet the archives of the French government 
would doubtless, if carefully explored, afford some ma- 
terials for fiUiDg up this broad hiatus in our history. 

Of the colony generally/, it is recorded that, during this 
period, its commerce, relieved from the restraint of ex- 
clusive privilege, began to thrive ; its agriculture was 
more prosperous ; indigo was cultivated to a considera- 
ble extent, and with much success ; the rice and tobacco 
produced afforded easy means of remittance to Europe, 
whilst lumber found a market in the West Indies. In 
what degree our portion of the province contributed to 
this trade, is not said. 

The Chickasaws had for some years been less trouble- 
some, but making an irruption again upon some of the 
back settlements, the Marquis of Vaudreuil, in 1752, 
led an army of seven hundred men, and a large number 
of Indians, into their country by the route pursued by 
Bienville in his first expedition against that nation. 

Finding the Chickasaw towns strongly fortified, and 
defended by block-houses, in the construction of which 
they were aided and instructed by the English among 
them, he lost little time in fruitless sieges, but contented 
himself with overrunning their country, destroying their 
crops, and wasting their supplies. The expedition, al- 



HISTORICAL OUTLINE. 51 

tliough not very satisfactory or successful, probably in- 
flicted as much injury as a more direct attack would 
have done. 

The Choctaws continued their hostilities against the 
Chickasaws during many years with constantly increas- 
ing success, and the latter seemed in danger of sharing, 
in the end, the fate of the exterminated Natchez. 

Sorely beset, they sued for peace to the French, but 
were left to the mercy of their vindictive and perse- 
vering foe. 

The Marquis of Vaudreuil having been appointed 
governor of Canada, on the 9th of February, 1753, Ker- 
lerec, a distinguished officer of the French navy, who 
had displayed much courage and ability, and received 
several wounds, was installed governor of Louisiana. 
He adopted a liberal policy towards the Indians, whom 
he endeavored to conciliate by dealing more justly by 
them, and providing larger and better supplies of goods 
for the Indian trade. He undertook also to ransom 
several prisoners who had long been detained among the 
Indians. 

Indulging less in pomp and splendor than his prede- 
cessor, he was less popular ; and however faithful and 
energetic he might have been, or judicious and well in- 
tentioned in the reforms he proposed, his administration 
was unfavorably compared with that of Yaudreuil by 
the disaffected and factious. 

Although menaced by the English, exposed to Indian 
incursions, and distracted by internal broils, to the ag- 
gravation of which the different orders of priesthood 
contributed, the French government not only failed to 
afford the necessary aid to meet the emergencies of the 
times, but also withdrew a large portion of the military 
force from, the colony. It is no matter of surprise. 



52 HISTORICAL OUTLINE. 

therefore, if Kerlerec proved unequal to the crisis which 
the colony was rapidly approaching. 

France and England having engaged in a war, the 
final issue was the fall of Canada, and with it the loss 
of all the possessions of France in North America. 

By the treaty of Paris of the 16th of February, 1763, 
all that part of the colony, embraced in the State of 
Mississippi was ceded to Great Britain, terminating the 
French rule over that district, which had lasted sixty- 
four years. 

It becomes interesting to inquire, at this juncture of 
the affairs of the colony, as to the then situation of the 
once promising settlements made near Natchez, and on 
the Yazoo, which we have seen were from time to time 
so largely and liberally reinforced with emigrants and 
laborers, about the period when the colony was placed 
under charge of the Mississippi Company. 

What had become of the extensive plantations Jind 
the hundreds of emigrants and slaves that had been set- 
tled upon them? Conjecture alone must answer the in- 
quiry, for our historians have failed to enlighten us. 
With all the disadvantages of climate and exposure, 
these people could not probably have so speedily per- 
ished by the ordinary course of nature, and the massacre 
cannot account for all, certainly not for a tithe of those 
settled on the Yazoo. 

Many of them doubtless wandered off among the 
Choctaws, became traders and hunters, adopting their 
mode of life and intermarrying with them, founding 
families, perhaps, as the Lafiours, Jusans, and others, 
whose descendants yet remain ; the residue probably 
withdrew to the newly-founded city of New Orleans, 
and contributed to its population ; the negroes perhaps 
being transferred to the plantations nearer the city. 



HISTORICAL OUTLINE. 53 

But in the long period of thirty years after the 
Natchez were driven from the country, were not those 
favorite and desirable settlements reoccupied? We 
must infer not, or to a very limited extent. We glean 
that, after the massacre, the erection of a fort at Natchez 
was commenced by Perrier and garrisoned; but it ap- 
pears also that the troops from all such interior posts 
were drawn ojQf wholly or in part to be employed in the 
Chickasaw wars. That no new settlements had been 
made in that quarter, may be inferred from the fact that 
the most recent attacks by the disaffected Choctaws and 
other hostile Indians were made as low down as the 
settlements of Point Coupee, at the German coast, and 
even on the lakes near New Orleans. 

In a census of the colony, taken in 1745, it appears 
that there were only eight white males and fifteen ne- 
groes at Natchez. Baluxi and Pascagoula are not men- 
tioned at all in the returns, although it is difficult to 
suppose that these, the earliest and once most populous 
settlements, had been wholly broken up. 

In 1751, when Governor Vaudreuil had received an 
accession to the military force of the colony, fifty sol- 
diers were stationed at Natchez. ' 



AS A BRITISH PROVINCE ; 1^63—1^9. 

Great Britain had acquired, at the same time that the 
French possessions east of the Mississippi had been ceded 
to her, the possessions of Spain in Florida also. 

The knowledge of the extent and geographical fea- 
tures of the country, by the English at least, was then 
exceedingly imperfect, as may be seen by a reference to 
the early map of the country published by Eman Bowen, 



54 HISTORICAL OUTLINE. 

an English geographer in 1764. A portion of this map, 
embracing the present territory of the State, is annexed 
to this report. 

Many changes in the channel of the Mississippi have 
taken place since that period, but the greatly exagge- 
rated width of the river, and the numerous islands with 
which it is studded, could not even at that time have 
had any foundation in truth ; the' former extending over 
much of the swamp lands periodically overflowed. The 
position of New Orleans is singularly inaccurate, being 
placed above the Lafourche ; the more correct position 
would have been one near that occupied on this plan by 
the Oumas village. 

Pearl, the principal river, having its entire extent in 
our State, is scarcely noticed upon the map, whilst its 
true sources are connected with the Pascagoula. 

Of these joint acquisitions two provinces were formed, 
called East and "West Florida ; the latter extending to 
and embracing all the territory of our now State south 
of the 31st degree of north latitude. The seat of go- 
vernment was established at Pensacola, and in 1764, 
George Johnston, a captain in the royal navy, was ap- 
pointed governor. 

By the treaty between Great Britain and France, the 
inhabitants within the ceded district were secured in the 
free exercise of the Catholic religion, and eighteen months 
were allowed them to dispose of their property to British 
subjects and to retire from the country. Complaints 
were subsequently made, however, that some of the 
British officers had required the French inhabitants to 
take the oath of allegiance within three months to be 
secured in their property. 

In February, a number of officers, with three hundred 
and twenty soldiers, commanded by Major Loftus, with 



HISTORICAL OUTLINE. 65 

a number of women and children, embarked at New Or- 
leans in ten large batteaux and two pirogues, to ascend 
the Mississippi to take possession of the newly-acquired 
establishments of the British in Illinois. On the 19th 
of March, the boats reached Fort Adams, or as then 
called, La roche a Davion, when the pirogues, which 
were in advance, were fired upon by a small party of 
Indians, not exceeding thirty in number, belonging to the 
Tunicas, Yazoos, and some other small tribes who were 
concealed on the bank. Six men were killed and seven 
wounded. Suspecting the treachery of the French, and 
supposing that a large Indian force was lying in wait for 
them, without firing a gun, the boats dropped down the 
river and returned to New Orleans. The place became 
known thereafter as Loftus Heights. 

The subsequent charge made by Major Loftus, who 
returned to head-quarters at Pensacola, that this attack 
was made by the instigation of the acting governor, 
D'Abbadie, was exposed as a black and atrocious calumny. 
On the contrary, the governor had used his utmost en- 
deavors to induce the Indians to remain quiet, having 
caused them to be harangued in behalf of the English, 
and ordered the French commandants of the posts on 
the river to afford aid and protection to Loftus and his 
party ; an interpreter had been furnished, and in fact 
everything in the power of the French had been done 
for the security of the expedition. 

The Indians of many of the villages in amity with 
the French were exceedingly averse to a change of 
rulers, and many of the Choctaws, Tensas, and Aliba- 
mons, from their aversion to the English, crossed over to 
the west of the Mississippi, and settled on lands given 
them by the French. 

It being represented to the British monarch that there 



56 HISTORICAL OUTLINE. 

were considerable settlements on the left bank of tbe 
Mississippi above the thirty-first degree of north lati- 
tude, by the commission of Governor Johnston, dated 
the 10th of June, 1764, the northern boundary of the 
province of West Florida was extended so as to embrace 
them, the line being drawn due east from the mouth of 
the Yazoo River. 

During the summer of 1764, a large detachment of 
British troops occupied Fort Rosalie at Natchez, which 
was thenceforth known as Fort Panmure. 

In 1765, a number of families, chiefly from the Roan- 
oke River in North Carolina, came to West Florida and 
settled above Baton Rouge ; some of these families sub- 
sequently removed to the neighborhood of Natchez. 

In December, 1766, a small stockade fort was built at 
the Bayou Manchac, the extreme southwestern point of 
the British possessions, which was named Fort Bute. 
This post being on the line of the Spanish dominions, 
and convenient to New Orleans, became a place of illicit 
trade, which was carried on with the inhabitants of 
Louisiana on a considerable scale, as it was also at 
Natchez. This trade, profitable as it was to the English, 
was so convenient and advantageous to the colonists of 
Louisiana, that it was indulged in with little restraint 
on the part of the Spanish authorities. Supplies of 
goods were accumulated at those posts, and in " floating 
warehouses" which traded along the coast, and, with the 
connivance of the public officers, even supplied the 
French boats trading to Illinois and up Red River and 
the Arkansas. 

The proclamation of the 7th of October, 1763, by the 
king of Great Britain, seems to have been the first offi- 
cial act of the British government in reference to its 
newly-acquired possessions on the Mississippi. By that 



HISTORICAL OUTLINE. 57 

proclamation it was that the province of "West Florida 
was established with the thirty-first degree of north lati- 
tude for its northern boundary. 

Grants of land were authorized tp be made to the in- 
habitants of the province, or those who might resort 
thereto, in quantities suited to their means of cultivation, 
and under such laodevsite quitrents, services, and acknoio- 
ledgments as had been prescribed in other colonies. 

To testify the royal sense and approbation of the con- 
duct of the ofiicers and soldiers of the army, the gover- 
nor was also empowered to make to such reduced officers 
and privates as had served in North America in the late 
war, and who should actually reside there and apply for 
the same, grants of land in quantity proportioned to 
their rank. Field-officers to be entitled to 5,000 acres, 
captains to 3,000, subalterns to 2,000, non-commissioned 
officers to 200, and privates to 50 acres. Officers of the 
navy, who had served at the reduction of Louisburg and 
Quebec, were entitled to similar grants. All persons 
were interdicted from acquiring land by purchase or 
grant from the Indians. 

In January, 1768, the first grants of which we have 
any record were made under the authority of the king's 
proclamation. They were executed by Monfort Browne, 
lieutenant-governor of the province of West Florida at 
Pensacola, among the first being two grants of 3,000 and 
2,000 acres respectively to Daniel Clarke, a reduced cap- 
tain of the Pennsylvania troops. These grants were 
situated on the St. Catharine, about three miles south of 
Fort Panmure, and embraced lands that had been in 
part cleared and improved under the French govern- 
ment. Similar grants were made to others, by Lieuten- 
ant-Governor Browne, in the following year. Grants 



58 HISTORICAL OUTLINE. 

dated in January, and -to the 19th of March, 1770, were 
signed by Elias Durnford, as lieutenant-governor. 

On the 2d of March of this year, the hmits of West 
Florida having been extended to the Yazoo, as has be- 
fore been stated, Peter Chester was commissioned the 
successor of Elliott, as governor of West Florida. 

No subsequent grants are known to have been made 
during this, or the following year. 

In 1772, and each of the succeeding years to the 3d 
of September, 1779, numerous patents, many of them 
for tracts of large dimensions, were granted by Governor 
Chester. 

Philip Livingston was Secretary of the province in 
the years 1772, 1773, 1776, 1777 and 1778. Alexander 
Macullough held that office in 1774 and 1775 ; and Elihu 
Hall Bay, afterwards a distinguished Judge of the State 
of South Carolina, and himself the grantee of several 
large tracts, as well as the proprietor by purchase of 
many others, was the Secretary in 1779, and at the close 
of the British rule in the province. 

In 1768, Daniel Clarke was the Clerk of the Council 
under Lieutenant-Governor Browne, and Francis Pous- 
sett held that office in 1769 and 1770. Charles Durn- 
ford was the Surveyor-General, and E. Rush Wegg, under 
whose revision the patents all passed, was the Attorney- 
General of the province. 

These grants, and the deeds of conveyance by which 
they passed to other hands, are exceedingly prolix, and 
abound with the technicalities and minute legal phrase- 
ology of the age. The following extract from the former 
is worth preserving, as a curious illustration of the esti- 
mation in which some of the ceded rights and privileges 
were then held, which are at this day common and dis- 
regarded. The patents ran as follows : — 



histoeical outline. 59 

"West Florida, ss. 

" George the Third, by the Grace of God of Great 
Britain, France and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, 
and so forth. 

" To all to whom these presents shall come greeting. 
Know Ye that we, of our special grace, certain know- 
ledge, and mere motion, have given and granted and by 
these presents, for our heirs and successors do give and 
grant unto, &c. &c., his heirs and assigns, all that tract 
or parcel of land, &c. &c., together with all the woods 
and underwoods, timber and timber trees, lakes, ponds 
and fishings, waters, watercourses, profits, commodities, 
&c. &c., together with the privilege of hunting, haivhing, 
and fowling, &c. &c., reserving, &c. &c. With a quit- 
rent of one penny sterling per acre, to be paid at the 
feast of St. Michael's in every year." 

Then follow the conditions of clearing three acres 
out of every fifty, of seating and seeding, draining 
marshes and quarrying rocks, &c., proof of which is to 
be made under a penalty of forfeiture within a stated 
period. 

The following are among the principal grants made in 
.the Natchez District: The Earl of Egglenton, 20,000 
acres near Natchez • Captain Amos Ogden, 25,000 acres 
on the Homochitto ; Thaddeus Lyman, 20,000 on both 
sides of the Bayou Pierre, between Port Gibson and 
Grand Gulf; the Earl of Sarcourt, 10,000 acres; Ad- 
miral Bentinck, 10,000 acres; the heirs of Thomas 
Comyn, 10,000 acres; Elihu Hall Bay, several tracts, 
16,000 acres; Admiral Sir George Bridges Rodney, 
5,000 acres; Sir William Dalling, 5,000 acres; Philip 
Barbour, Governor of Virginia, 2,000 acres on the Mis- 
sissippi near Grand Gulf; Admiral Sir Richard Onslow, 
1,000 acres, and Colonel Anthony Hutchins, several large 



60 HISTORICAL OUTLINE. 

tracts embracing the White Apple Village of the Natchez 
on Second Creek. 

Two of these grants, known as Ogclen's Mandamus and 
Lyman's Mandamus, were of a different character from 
the others, emanating directly from the king. 

To Captain Amos Ogden, a retired officer of the Pro- 
vince of New Jersey, the king, at the Court of St. 
James, on the 13th of May, 1767, issued his order to the 
governor of his majesty's province of West Florida, to 
cause 25,000 acres of land to be surveyed in one " con- 
tiguous" tract, in such part of said province as the said 
Ogden or his attorney shall choose, and to pass a, grant 
therefor to the said Ogden under the seal of the 
province. 

On the 14th of April, 1772, Captain Ogden sold 
19,000 acres of this grant for the sum of nine hundred 
pounds proclamation money of New Jersey, to two 
brothers, Samuel and Richard Swayze. This grant was 
located on the Homochitto River, about fifteen miles 
from Natchez, and the purchasers, with their families 
and connections, removed to it and formed what is 
known to this day as the Jersey settlement. 

Major-General Phineas Lyman, of Connecticut, had 
served with distinction against the French in Canada, 
and subsequently led a large detachment of provincial 
troops to co-operate with Lord Amherst against the 
West Indies, and after the fall of Havana was placed in 
command of that place. Standing in high favor with 
the British government, and contemplating after the 
close of the war the establishment of a company of 
military adventurers chiefly composed of the officers and 
soldiers who had served with him for the purpose of 
making a settlement on lands in the west, he repaired 
to England in 1763, to solicit the grant of a body of 



HISTORICAL OUTLINE. 61 

land for that object. Before his arrival, a change had 
taken place in the English ministry, and his friends were 
out of ]30wer ; he remained, however, nearly ten years 
in fruitless attendance upon a court which seemed to 
have forgotten his services until he had become old and 
dispirited, and was fast sinking into a state of imbecility 
resulting from chagrin and disappointment. Finally, he 
obtained a simihar mandate as that of Ogden to the 
governor of West Florida, for a grant of 20,000 acres. 
Returning to Connecticut, and finding that many of his 
old associates had died or removed, and most of the 
others disinclined from advancing age to encounter the 
hardships incident to new settlements, after a short 
delay, he proceeded with his eldest son Thaddeus, and 
a few friends, to Mississippi to locate his lands. Before 
this was completed he died, and the patent was granted 
on the 2d of February, 1775, to his son Thaddeus on 
condition of his conveying portions of it to his brothers 
Thompson and Oliver Lyman, and his sisters Elizabeth 
and Experience, which was done. Four thousand acres 
of his portion of the tract were also sold in different par- 
cels to some of the officers of the government at Pensa- 
cola, Livingston, Macullogh, and Bay. 

It has been seen that the British government was pro- 
fuse in its grants of land in the Natchez District, and it 
becomes interesting to know its actual condition and the 
progress that had been made in its settlement. We 
have the testimony of some of the early settlers, who 
survived to an advanced age, and whose statements have 
been preserved, that, in 1776, twelve years after the 
English first occupied the fort at Natchez, the town then 
consisted of only ten log cabins and two frame houses, 
all situated under the bluff. The site of Fort Eosalie- 
was overgrown with forest trees, some of them more 



62 HISTORICAL OUTLINE. 

than two feet in diameter ; several old iron gans were 
lying about, supposed to have been left by the French. 
About seventy-eight families, dispersed in different set- 
tlements, constituted the whole population of the dis- 
trict, few of which, according to these statements, had 
emigrated to the country previous to the year 1772. 
There were four small mercantile establishments in the 
town J these were owned by Blomart, James Willing, 
Barber, and the firm of Hanchet & Newman. Blomart 
was a reduced British officer, Willing became afterwards 
unfavorably conspicuous, and Hanchet was one of the 
followers or associates of Lyman. 

In 1777, the British held a treaty with the Indians 
at Mobile, when the limits of the Natchez District were 
defined; and in 1779 the eastern boundary line was 
surveyed and marked; between this line and the Missis- 
sippi, the Indians relinquished all their claims. The 
line commenced on the thirty-first degree of north lati- 
tude, about fifty miles east of the Mississippi, running 
rather west of north and approaching the river by a not 
very direct line, until it reached -the Yazoo River, pass- 
ing only about six miles east of the present city of 
Vicksburg. A large portion of the district bordering on 
the Mississippi and the principal streams was covered by 
British grants, which were now being rapidly settled by 
the emigrants resorting to the country. 

The war of the Revolution had broken out ; but it 
was not to be expected that so remote and inconsidera- 
ble a settlement as this, absorbed with the cares and 
struggling with the privations and difficulties incident to 
newly-settled countries, would take any active part in 
the contest, or that the peaceful and absorbing avoca- 
tions of its inhabitants would be interrupted or disturbed 
by hostile incursions. Circumstances, however, pre- 



HISTORICAL OUTLINE. 63 

vented the neutrality that otherwise would have been 
observed, and led the inhabitants to resent wrongs wan- 
tonly inflicted upon them in the name of a cause towards 
which there is no reason to doubt many of them were 
well affected. 

In the city of New Orleans, some merchants from 
Philadelphia, New York, and Boston, had established 
themselves, who were warmly interested in the cause of 
independence. The most prominent of these was Oliver 
Pollock, who possessed much influence, and enjoj^ed the 
favor of the Spanish governor Galvez. These men suc- 
ceeded in accumulating considerable supplies of arms 
and ammunition for the American troops, probably with 
the aid, and certainly with the knowledge, of Galvez. 
To procure these military stores. Colonels Gibson and 
Linn were dispatched from Fort Pitt in 1766, and suc- 
ceeded in transporting them safely up the Mississippi, to 
be used in defence of the American forts on the Ohio. 

In the following year, Captain Willing, of Philadel- 
phia, and lately one of the few merchants at Natchez, 
was dispatched by the Continental Congress to New Or- 
leans, on a similar mission. He visited the English set- 
tlements on the Mississippi, and enjoyed the hospitality 
of his former neighbors and acquaintances ; but they 
could not be induced to take a part in the war ; the 
sparseness of the population, the remoteness from the 
other colonies, and the consequent diflSculty of receiving 
aid or assistance from them in their need, influenced 
their conduct, and inclined them to neutrality. 

In January, 1778, Willing again visited New Orleans 
with a party of about fifty men. Pollock now acted 
openly as the agent of the Americans, with the counte- 
nance of Governor Galvez, who, at different times, con- 
tributed seventy thousand dollars out of the royal 



64 HISTORICAL OUTLINE. 

treasury, by which meuns the frontier inhabitants of 
Virginia and Pennsylvania were furnished with arms and 
ammunition for the defence of their forts. 

WiUing now engaged in a marauding excursion against 
the planters on the Mississippi. At Manchac, he cap- 
tured a small vessel, which was lying there at anchor, 
and proceeded as far as Natchez, laying waste planta- 
tions, destroying stock, burning houses, and carrying off 
all the slaves he could seize ; the inhabitants being too 
few and scattered to make any effectual resistance. 
Among those plundered in this manner were Colonel 
Anthony Hutchins, Isaac Johnson, and Alexander Mc- 
intosh. This wanton and unwarrantable attack upon 
the inoffensive inhabitants, standing in no hostile atti- 
tude, the liberality and hospitality of many of whom 
"Willing had enjoyed the year previous, and now requited 
by burning their houses and plundering their effects, was 
regarded as an enormity justified by no laws of war, and 
uncalled for by his commission. Well affected as the 
people of Louisiana were to the cause of the United 
States, they viewed with indignation this wanton and 
unprovoked attack upon a helpless and unoffending 
communit}^ 

Keturning to New Orleans with his booty, a party of 
new recruits, under the command of Witling's lieuten- 
ant, returned up the river to prosecute further depreda- 
tions against the other plantations which had so far 
escaped. Intelligence of the approach of this party 
being conveyed to the inhabitants, many of them put 
their effects out of its reach ; among these, Mr. WiUiam 
Dunbar, and others acting under his advice, removed 
their slaves across the Mississippi into the Spanish pos- 
sessions. A party of Natchez settlers was also raised, 
and headed by Hutchins, Blomart, Mcintosh and Percy, 



HISTORICAL OUTLINE. 65 

assembled at the White Cliffs, or Ellis Landing, where 
the boats of the approaching party were decoyed into 
shore. A skirmish ensued, in which the lieutenant and 
five or six of his men were killed. 

Shortly after the foregoing occurrences, Governor 
Chester sent Colonel Magellan to raise four companies 
of militia, and with orders to fit up Fort Panmure. The 
command of these troops was given to Lyman, Blomart 
and Mcintosh, who were soon ordered to Baton Rouge 
in consequence of the prospect of a war with Spain, and 
a Captain Foster, with a hundred men, was left in com- 
mand of Natchez. 

The British rule in the province was, however, now 
on the eve of a very sudden and unlooked-for termina- 
tion. In May, 1779, war was declared by Spain against 
Great Britain. Don Bernardo de Galvez, who had hith- 
erto been acting temporarily, received with the intelli- 
gence of this rupture the king's commission as governor ; 
and a royal order of the 8th of July having authorized 
the subjects of the king in the Indies to take part in the 
war, Galvez proposed an immediate attack upon the 
English possessions in the neighborhood. A council of 
war, however, rejected the proposition, being inclined 
to postpone the enterprise until a reinforcement of troops 
could be obtained from Havana. Galvez, impatient of 
inactivity, set about collecting a body of men of suffi- 
cient force to justify him in taking the responsibility of 
acting in opposition to the will of his advisers. There 
were, at this time, many persons in New Orleans from 
the United States, who offered their services; these, with 
the volunteer militia, and the regular troops at the disposal 
of the governor, amounted to a force of fourteen hundred 
.men. After a forced march, which considerably reduced 
his force by disease, he reached Fort Bute on Bayou 
5 



66 ^ HISTORICAL OUTLINE. 

Manchac, which was taken by assault on the 7th of 
September, in less than sixty days from the date of the 
royal order authorizing the king's subjects in AmericS, 
to take part in the war. Without loss of time the army 
was marched to Baton Rouge. Colonel Dickson, in 
command of the British garrison at that place, had a 
force of about five hundred men, including militia ; he 
was well supplied with ammunition and provisions, but 
his men were sickly, and the fort was out of repair. 
Galvez immediately invested the fort, mounted some 
heavy ordnance, and a cannonade of little more than 
two hours compelled a surrender. 

On the 21st of September, 1779, Colonel Dickson 
agreed to a capitulation, which included also Fort Pan- 
mure at Natchez, and another small post on the Amite 
River. 

This expedition, so promptly conceived and success- 
fully executed, reflected much honor upon Galvez, and 
afforded an example of energy and ability that had not 
for a long period before been exhibited by the rulers of 
the colony. Don Carlos de Grand Pr6 was left in com- 
mand of Baton Rouge, with two officers under him in 
command of Fort Panmure and Fort Bute. Thus closed 
the British rule in the province of West Florida, which 
had existed, dating from the Treaty of Paris, about six- 
teen years. 



AS A PROVINCE OF SPAIN; 1^9—1798. 

By the capitulation of Colonel Dickson, commanding 
the British garrison at Baton Rouge, on the 21st of Sep- 
tember, 1779, the Natchez District, including Fort Pan- 
mure, and two small posts on the Amite and Thomp- 



HISTORICAL OUTLINE. 67 

son's Creek, passed under the dominion of Spain, and 
the British rule that had existed for sixteen years was 
terminated. 

Spain now, two hundred and thirty-nine years after 
the discovery and exploration by De Soto, was for the 
first time possessed of the country. 

Galvez, leaving Colonel De Grand Pre in command at 
Baton Rouge, with two officers under him at Fort Bute 
and Fort Panmure, returned to New Orleans. 

In the mean time, four years before the close of the 
war of Independence, Congress, informed of the rupture 
between Spain and Great Britain, entered into negotia- 
tion with the former, claiming this territory as part of 
the United States, and insisting upon the right to the 
free navigation of the Mississippi. 

This claim was resisted by Spain, by whom it was 
contended that no part of the territory was included 
within the limits of any of the States, but that as a 
part of Florida, it was a possession of the British crown, 
and as such might be legitimately subdued by the Span- 
ish arms, and held as a permanent acquisition. This 
conquest by Spain was therefore made under a virtual 
protest by the United States. 

The population of the Natchez District was at this 
time composed in a great part of the English; reduced 
officers and soldiers of the British army, and their asso- 
ciates, together with numbers who had emigrated from 
the American States. None of these were well affected 
towards the Spaniards, and the sudden change of rulers 
and of institutions was very repugnant to their feelings. 
They complained that they had been sacrificed, and the 
country surrendered, by the capitulation of Baton Rouge, 
without giving them an opportunity of resistance. 

Uninformed of these changes, Congress, in the same 



68 HISTORICAL OUTLINE. 

year, commissioned James Robinson, a friend and com- 
panion of Willing, who with thirty or forty followers 
came to Natchez, to carry out the enterprise first under- 
taken by Willing with the view of securing the allegi- 
ance of the inhabitants to the United States. Finding 
the country in the possession of the Spaniards, the ex- 
pedition was broken up and dispersed, and the leader 
soon afterwards died. In July, 1781, Don Carlos de 
Grand Pre, Lieutenant-Colonel of the Eegiment of 
Louisiana, came to Natchez as the civil and military 
commandant of the District. 

Galvez, in the meantime, had reduced Mobile, and 
was besieging Pensacola, when, with a confidence in the 
invincibility of the British arms which the result did 
not justify, some of the leading inhabitants of the dis- 
trict, among whom Thaddeus Lyman, son of General 
Phineas Lyman (who has before been spoken of in con- 
nection with his extensive grant of land under man- 
damus of the king), and his associates were prominent, 
offered to produce a diversion in favor of the British 
cause by taking Fort Panmure, and re-establishing the 
British authority. 

The persons who took the lead in this enterprise, ac- 
cording to the late Calvin Smith, and given as the re- 
collections of his boyhood, during which he witnessed 
the scenes of rebellion and resistance to the Spanish 
authorities, were Colonel Anthony Hutchins, Captain D. 
Blomart, a late British officer, Jacob Winfrey, Christian 
Bingaman, the two Alstons, and Turner Mulkey, a Bap- 
tist preacher. An application was made to Governor 
Chester at Pensacola for aid. Distrusting his ability of 
maintaining Pensacola against the assailants, the gov- 
ernor hesitated to encourage the revolt, fearing that the 
Natchez inhabitants might be precipitated into an uu- 



HISTORICAL OUTLINE. 69 

successful and ruinous struggle. Such supplies as he 
could spare, however, he sent, and Mann, the messenger 
from Natchez, was directed to set out upon his return ; 
but to stop in the Choctaw nation with Fulsom, a white 
man who had married an Indian wife and become a 
chief, and there to await further instructions. 

Feeling assured that, in the event of defeat, they at 
least would be secure from Spanish retribution by a 
timely retreat among the Choctaws, Mann, by repre- 
senting to Fulsom the prospect of gain from the plunder 
of the Spanish fort, and of some boats expected to arrive 
from Illinois, engaged his co-operation, and, disregard- 
ing the prudential instructions of the governor, resolved 
to precipitate the attack. Assembling some twenty 
white men and as many Indians, Mann and Fulsom 
proceeded to Natchez, where the inhabitants engaged in 
the plan of revolt, and, being apprised of their approach, 
sanctioned, as they supposed, by Governor Chester, and 
whose support they might consequently calculate upon, 
flew to arms. Assembling at the house of John Row, 
afterwards the residence of the late Job Routh, the 
British flag was raised on the 22d April, 1782, in full 
view of the fort. 

Seeing these preparations for an attack, an officer was 
sent by the commandant of the fort to the insurgents to 
represent to them the folly and danger of the rebellion, 
to counsel them to deliver up their leaders, and to 
promise the royal clemency should they disperse. These 
overtures were not listened to, the disaflection of the 
inhabitants was too decided and general to think of re- 
linquishing their designs. There was no sympathy be- 
tween the people of the two nations ; speaking difierent 
languages, and cherishing so many social and national 
antipathies. Restive under the government of their 



m'f: 



70 HISTOEICAL OUTLINE. 

foreign rulers, and feeling a false confidence in their 
superior force, and having little else to employ them, the 
people ran to arms in a spirit of reckless frolic and 
bravado, without duly considering their true situation, 
and the great evils to which they were exposing them- 
selves. 

An old damaged field-piece, ploughed up at the French 
Meadows on the St. Catharine's, probably left there by 
the French at the period of the Natchez massacre, and 
two swivels, captured from a boat ascending the Missis- 
sippi, which was waylaid below Natchez, at a point 
where the strength of the current compelled the crew to 
land, were mounted near Row's house to the southeast 
of the fort, where the assailants were protected by a 
deep ravine. 

From this point the attack was carried on against the 
fort, Blomart being in command, aided by Captain Win- 
frey and Lieutenant Smith. A small house, behind 
which some of the besiegers had sheltered themselves, 
was demolished by the guns of the fort, and a shot from 
the assailants passed through the commandant's house 
in the fort, and a corporal in the garrison was killed, 
the only life lost, it is said, during the attack. 

The fort was strong, the ramparts eight or ten feet 
thick, of solid earth, and protected by a stockade of 
thick cypress timber. The guns of the assailants were 
too light, and at too great a distance to do much damage, 
and the siege was continued for more than a week with 
more noise than effect, when an emissary or spy of the 
insurgents found means to introduce himself into the 
fort, and represented to the commandant that the fort 
was undermined and would be blown up in a few days. 
A number of persons having been seen as if engaged in 
■some proceeding in a deep ravine which ran near the 



HISTORICAL OUTLINE. 71 

works, gave some coloring to this report, and other cir- 
cumstances tended to persuade the garrison and the com- 
mandant that it was not unfounded. A parley ensued, 
when a capitulation was agreed upon. The fort was 
surrendered to the British party, and, after delivering up 
their arms, and taking an oath not to serve again against 
the British during the war, the prisoners were sent under 
escort to Loftus Heights, and suffered to proceed to Baton 
Rouge. 

The fort was strong, and said to be well provided with 
provisions and ammunition, and capable of sustaining a 
long siege. The commandant excused the surrender, 
however, affirming that his men were worn down and 
exhausted by several days of fatigue and watching, and 
that his supplies were nearly exhausted. The appre- 
hension of the explosion of the mine is generally re- 
garded as the cause of surrender. Even to this day, the 
tradition is preserved among the Choctaws, who yet en- 
joy the ruse practised upon the commandant. 

The escort with the captured garrison had scarcely 
reached Loftus Heights (now Fort Adams), when a con- 
siderable Spanish force, accompanied by a large body of 
Indians, was seen ascending the river. 

The party met with at Loftus Heights proved to be 
a detachment of French militia from Opelousas, with a 
body of Indians, making a force of about three hundred ; 
they landed and surprised a detachment of twenty men 
stationed at Captain Winfrey's house, fourteen of whom 
were killed. The inhabitants were forced to retire into 
forts, of which there were two between the French 
Meadows and Natchez; but being greatly harassed, 
aroused themselves to resistance, and the Spanish party 
were forced to retire, and take a position at the White 
Cliffs on the Mississippi. About the middle of June, 



72 HISTORICAL OUTLINE. 

the Natchez iuluibitauts had assembled a jTorco of about 
two hundred men to attack them, when they were filled 
with consternation by the arrival of an express from 
Pensacola, bringing intelligence of the fall of that place. 
Finding tliat the British tlag could no longer protect 
them, and that thej' were struggling as unsupported in- 
surgents against the monarchy of Spain, the attack was 
relinquished, and Mulligan, the leader of the Opelousas 
party, was suffered to ocoup}- Fort Panmure. With the 
fate of the victims of 0'1-veiley staring them in the face, 
many sought safety by iliglit. Among these were Lyman 
and many of his associates from Connecticut, who deter- 
mined to nuike their escape to Savannah. The caravan 
was a large one, including women and children, and 
being compelled to take a very circuitous route to avoid 
the hostile Indians, they sufiered incredible hardships, 
oi^ which an interesting detail has been given in the 
travels of President Dwiglit, of Yale College, 

Although the greater part of the inhabitants were in- 
volved in the rebellion, there were some memorable ex- 
ceptions. Among these was Alexander Mcintosh, who 
prudently kept aloof, and had consequently acquired the 
displeasure of his neighbors. They were now, however, 
glad to avail themselves of his services, and he was sent 
to New Orleans to negotiate an amnesty, and to sue for 
forgiveness of the offenders, man^^ of whom were 
screened through his influence and exertions. 

In the mean time, Mulligan's pledges of protection 
were ineffectual; for thirty days plundering parties 
roamed through the country, seizing the property and 
destroying the houses of the inhabitants, until Colonel 
De Grand Pre arrived A^-ith a battalion of troops, and 
took regular possession of the country. 

The leaders of the insurrection who had not tied were 



niSTORICAL OUTLINE. 73 

arrested, sent to New Orleans, and imprisoned. Among 
these was Blomart, styled in the proceedings had against 
his estate, the " Chief of the R^ibels." It is believed he 
was subsequently sent to Spain for trial. Yrinfrey, 
George Alston, Smith and others were also sent to New 
Orleans in confinement. Bingaman was spared through 
the intercession of Mcintosh; and Colonel Anthony 
Hutchins, subsequently discovered to have taken a part 
in the insurrection, was compelled to make his escape to 
Georgia, which he effected with some difiBculty, whence 
he went to England and remained some years. 

By the exertion of some unknown influence, Piemass, 
when Governor-General of Louisiana, suffered his pro- 
perty, with the exception of twelve negroes sent to New 
Orleans, to remain in the possession of Mrs. Hutchins. 
Subsequently, his extensive British grants were con- 
firmed to his children, and in the end Colonel Hutchins 
was permitted himself to return to the country. He ac- 
quired considerable influence, and on some occasions was 
quite useful about the period of the surrender of the 
country to the United States. 

One of the Alstons had escaped among a tribe of In- 
dians called the " Chits," an abbreviation of the Chitima- 
ches, it is supposed, carrying with him the principal part 
of his negro property. On the death of his wife, which 
occurred shortly after, the Spanish commandant at 
Natchez appointed Mr. Mcintosh the guardian of her 
children, leaving the remaining property in his charge 
for their support, and annulling some fraudulent sales 
by which he had disposed of a portion of the property 
to keep it out of the reach of the Spanish authorities. 

All sales executed at the time the rebels were in pos- 
session of the fort at Natchez were declared invalid. In 
the confiscation of the estates of Parker Carradine and 



74 HISTORICAL OUTLINE. 

John Smith, sent to New Orleans as " rebels," and im- 
prisoned, the rights of their wives to a separate property 
in their estates were recognized, and such property was 
left in their possession. The families of all the fugitives, 
it seems, were regarded with indulgence, and the part of 
the propert}^ held by them at least was assigned for 
their support. 

The large British grant to Lyman of twenty thousand 
acres was confiscated, but upon application to Grand 
Pre, the sale of one-half of the tract was arrested, and 
it was granted to Salome, the daughter of Thaddeus 
Lyman, left destitute in the country with her grandfather 
Waterman Crane. 

Butler, who derives his information chiefly from the 
oral account given him by the late Calvin Smith, states 
that many of the insurgents joined with Colbert, a 
Scotchman who was living with an Lidian family among 
the Chickasaws, and established themselves at the 
Chickasaw Bluffs, now Memphis, and became quite 
formidable, stopping and plundering the passing boats at 
pleasure. To prevent the other refugees among the In- 
dians from joining these predatory parties on the river, 
they were invited by proclamation to return to their 
homes in peace. 

In September, 1782, Don Estevan Miro, Governor- 
General of Louisiana, ad interim, was at Natchez in the 
capacity of civil and military commandant. He was 
succeeded in the laitter office in the following November 
by Don Pedro Piernass. 

The war of the Revolution was now terminated, and 
by the preliminary articles of peace between Great Brit- 
ain, France and Spain, of the 20th of January, 1783, 
the King of Great Britain acknowledged the indepen- 
dence of the United States, and recognized as their 



HISTORICAL OUTLINE. 75 

southern boundary the thirty-first degree of north latitude. 
The definitive treaty between Great Britain and the 
United States was signed at Paris on the 3d of Septem- 
ber following. 

Great Britain having, in the latter, warranted the 
province of West Florida to Spain, the claims of Spain 
and the United States were not easily recognized, as the 
King of Spain claimed to the line drawn east from the 
Yazoo Kiver, as the north boundary of that province, it 
having been so extended by Great Britain in the com- 
mission of Governor Johnston of the 10th of June, 
1764, and had remained unchanged to the date of the 
treaty. "The United States contended that they had 
the right of going as far as the thirty-first degree, and 
Spain could not urge her warranty from Great Britain 
against the United States, who had Sbjprevious title from 
her warrantor."* 

Piernass having withdrawn to New Orleans in June, 
1783, Francisco Collett, a captain in the garrison, be- 
came civil and military commandant ad interim. On 
the 3d of August, he was superseded by Don Philip Tre- 
vino, Lieutenant-Colonel of the Regiment of Louisiana. 

That the Natchez District would soon come under the 
government of the United States, as embraced within 
her limits as established by the treaty recognizing her 
independence, was now the confident expectation and 
desire of many of the inhabitants, and the influence 
which a free and stable government would exert on the 
prosperity of the country was thus early foreseen. Mr. 
William Dunbar writes to his friend in June, 1783. 
" I am sorry to say that our plantation (near Baton Rouge) 
falls considerably without the American line, in conse- 

* Judge Martin. 



76 HISTORICAL OUTLINE. 

quence of which it may not be worth a pinch of S7mff as 
a salable commodity. * * As Natchez is considera- 
bly above latitude thirty-one degrees, we believe here it 
must soon become a settlement of great consequence, al- 
though we have not learned the intentions of Congress 
respecting it. Mrs. Pollock gives out that her husband 
(Oliver Pollock, a merchant of New Orleans), is coming 
out as governor," &c. Again, on the 15th of August 
following, he adds : '' The definitive treaty of peace has 
not yet reached us; the officers of government, also, de- 
clare themselves in the dark, having received no orders 
from their court consequential to the peace." 

Such was the confidence of Mr. Dunbar, that this 
change was to be the immediate and natural consequence 
of the treaty, that he meditated an early removal above 
the thirty-first degree of latitude, a design which was 
not long after carried into effect. Many others, influ- 
enced by similar considerations, removed to the district. 

In August, 1783, Don Philip Trevino assumed the 
duties of civil and military commandant of the district, 
and Spain continued to maintain her possession. 

After the eighteen months had expired which, by the 
treaty, were allowed for the British subjects to dispose 
of their property, the Spanish government by proclama- 
tion hoice prolonged the period two years or more, and 
it was not until after the second term that the lands 
were considered as reverted to the crown, and were 
granted out to petitioners.* The lands of the leaders of 
the rebellion were declared forfeited, and sold. 

It was not until the 20th of April, 1784, four or five 
months after the date of our treaty establishing the south- 
ern boundary at lat. 31°, that Governor Estevan Miro 

* Mr. Dunbar. 



HISTORICAL OUTLINE. 77 

issued the first order of survey for lands in the district. 
From this period until the 1st of September, 1795, 
numerous orders of survey and patents were executed, 
the people becoming gradually reconciled to the Spanish 
government, and finding it more liberal and tolerant than 
they had been led to believe. 

Emigration increased rapidly the facility with which 
lands were obtained by the actual settler, and their great 
productiveness attracted many to the country, "The 
prudent and circumspect had nothing to fear from the 
government; it depended upon themselves to render a 
residence in the country agreeable." As to the laws and 
their execution, it was said : " British property here is in 
the utmost security ; an Englishman may come here and 
recover his debts, and obtain as much justice as in West- 
minster Hall."* The execution of the laws, it is true, 
was summary, but in the main just. The fraudulent 
who attempted to make way with their effects, or to 
abscond to avoid their creditors, were promptly dealt 
with. The property of such was seized, appraised by 
their neighbors appointed for the purpose, was sold after 
proper notice, and the proceeds were distributed, pro 
rata, on the spot to their creditors. 

Most of the matters involved in dispute, such as the 
settlement of accounts or other claims, were adjudicated 
and settled on a petition to the commandant by arbitra- 
tors appointed by him; and the Spanish archives show 
that the men of the highest standing and greatest pro- 
bity in the country were most usually employed in the 
settlement of these disputes. 

On more than one occasion, the government interposed 
to protect the debtors from their too importunate foreign 

* Mr. Dunbar. 



78 HISTOEICAL OUTLINE. 

creditors, by procuring further indulgence at times when 
the embarrassments of the inhabitants had become 
general, and the consequence of some transient cause ; 
but in these cases an inventory of the property of the 
debtor was furnished on oath, and it was regarded as 
pledged for the debts. It had the effect of a judgment, 
and the property was subject to sale on failure to meet 
the debt at the stipulated time. 

In October, 1785, Don Francis Bouligny came as com- 
mandant to Natchez; he was succeeded, in the March 
following (1786), by Don Carlos de Grand Pre, who re- 
turned again to resume that office which he henceforth 
filled until 1792, six years. 

By the census taken in 1785, it was found that the 
population had greatly increased, that of the District of 
Natchez amounting to fifteen hundred and fifty persons. 
A garrison of sixty soldiers was maintained at Fort 
Panmure, at an annual expense to the Spanish crown of 
six thousand five hundred dollars. 

This year a number of agents of the Jamaica merchants 
came to collect the debts due them. Governor Miro 
found it necessary to interpose for the protection of the 
debtors, and he allowed a resort to the last extremity 
only against those who acted fraudulently or with bad 
faith. He also extended the time allowed for British 
subjects to remain in the country and dispose of their 
property. This indulgence was approved by the King 
of Spain, who further directed that such persons should 
be permitted to remain permanently in the province upon 
taking the customary oath of allegiance and fidelity. 

To render the priests more acceptable to the people, 
Irish clergymen were procured who spoke the English 
language, in order to induce the inhabitants and famihes 
to embrace the Catholic faith. 



HISTORICAL OUTLINE. 79 

In June, 1786, Galvez was succeeded bj Don Estevan 
Miro as Governor of Louisiana and "West Florida. 

Although the treaty of 1786 provided expressly that 
the navigation of the Mississippi should forever remain 
free and open to the subjects of Great Britain and the 
citizens of the United States, yet, with the exclusive 
policy characteristic of the Spanish nation, the claim of 
the United States to its enjoyment was resisted, and the 
boats of the western people, who ventured to descend the 
Mississippi, were arrested by the first officer who met 
with them, and, together with the cargo, were confiscated 
in every case. This state of things, so exasperating to 
the people of Kentucky, and of that quarter to whom 
the Mississippi afforded the only outlet for their surplus 
productions, continued until the Governor of Louisiana 
began to apprehend that the western people, already 
highly inflamed by the denial of this reasonable and, to 
them, essential right, might be excited, forcibly, to open 
a way for their trade. Under these circumstances, 
General Wilkinson conceived the idea .of a regular trade 
to New Orleans, and with this view descended the Mis- 
sissippi with a venture of tobacco, flour, bacon, &c. He 
stopped at Natchez, and the boat was suffered to proceed 
down the stream to New Orleans, the commandant of 
the former place forbearing to seize it under the belief 
that Governor Miro would be induced to make an excep- 
tion in the case in which a distinguished general officer 
of the United States was interested. When the boat 
arrived in New Orleans, in advance of its owners, steps 
were taken for its seizure, and a guard sent on board by 
the revenue officers. 

A merchant of some influence, and a friend of Wilkin- 
son, called upon the governor, and intimated that the 
proposed step might be attended with unpleasant conse- 



80 HISTORICAL OUTLINE, 

quences, enlarged upon the exasperation of the people of 
Kentucky in consequence of the seizure of the property 
of those who attempted the navigation of the river, and 
hinted that the general possessed great popularity and 
influence among those who were capable of inflaming the 
whole of the western inhabitants; that, probably, the 
sending the boat to New Orleans, that it might be seized, 
was a scheme of the government of the United States to 
produce such an excitement as to induce the people to 
choose Wilkinson as a leader, and to overrun and desolate 
the country. 

Alarmed by these representations, the governor directed 
the guard to be withdrawn, and the boat was delivered 
to Wilkinson's friend to sell the cargo without paying 
duty. In his first interview with Governor Miro after 
his arrival, Wilkinson artfully encouraged the delusion 
which had influenced his action. 

The apprehensions of Miro being thus thoroughly 
awakened, he thought he could not do better than to 
secure the influence of Wilkinson in restraining his tur- 
bulent and dangerous countrymen from making an attack 
upon Louisiana. 

Such, it is said, was the origin of the contract between 
Wilkinson and the Spanish government, and which se- 
cured him a monopoly of introducing the productions of 
the western country into New Orleans ; a privilege which, 
however beneficial to both parties, and, perhaps, advan- 
tageous to the country at large, wrought much injury to 
the agricultural interest of the Natchez District. 

The cultivation of tobacco had been found to succeed 
in the districts, and, to encourage it, the King of Spain 
became the purchaser of all that was delivered and 
passed inspection at his warehouses in New Orleans, at 
an established and liberal price. 



HISTORICAL OUTLINE. 81 

The production of tobacco under this arrangement was 
found so lucrative that it was engaged in extensively, 
and for a few years the prosperity of the country was 
rapidly advancing. This, however, could not withstand 
the blighting and injurious effects of the competition 
with the Kentucky tobacco introduced under Wilkin- 
son's contract, when the patronage of the king was with- 
drawn. 

The cultivation of tobacco consequently gave way to 
that of indigo, which, however disagreeable and offensive, 
was much more profitable. To this succeeded cotton, 
which, up to the present day, promises to maintain its 
stand against all competition. • 

In 1788, another census was taken, and the population 
of the Natchez District was found to amount to 2,679 
persons, an increase of 1,129 in about three years. 

In 1789, General Wilkinson visited New Orleans for 
the second time, and was informed by Governor Miro 
that he was instructed to admit the immigration of set- 
tlers from the western country. 

Accordingly, several tracts of land were granted to 
such settlers as presented themselves ; these established 
themselves chiefly in the Natchez District and Feliciana, 
Many, however, under the pretence of settling perma- 
nently in the country, took advantage of the permission 
to make several trips and to introduce their goods and 
produce duty free, and in this manner a market was 
gradually opened for the produce of the Ohio. 

On the 1st of January, 1792, the Baron de Carondelet 
was appointed Governor of Louisiana, and the following 
July we find Don Manuel Gayoso de Lemos, governor 
at Natchez. 

At this time, the possessions of Spain on the Missis- 
sippi were seriously menaced in different quarters, of 
6 



82 HISTORICAL OUTLINE. 

which the governor was early informed by the Spanish 
minister to the United States. 

Genet, the Minister of the French Republic, conceived 
the project of reacquiring for his country the possessions 
she had lost in Louisiana by an expedition to be fitted 
out in the United States ; and to this end commissions 
were issued by him to some of the citizens of the United 
States disposed to embark in the enterprise. 

Danger was apprehended also of British invasion from 
Canada. 

The United States having failed by negotiation to get 
possession of that part of its territory comprising the 
Natchez District, or to secure the enjoyment of the free 
navigation of the Mississippi, _ the inhabitants of Ken- 
tucky, or the " "Western Country," became impatient and 
restive. Their increasing productions demanded an out- 
let to a foreign market, which they were resolved on 
some terms to obtain. But, however united on this 
point, they dijfifered in their projects for attaining it. 
Some meditated the dismemberment of the country, and 
the establishment of a government independent of the 
United States. Of these, some favored a connection with 
Spain and a submission to her laws ; others were inclined 
to the French interest. And still another party, to which 
some of the English royalists of the Natchez District 
adhered, looked with a distant and vague hope to the re- 
establishment of the British rule. 

To counteract these adverse projects, and to foment 
and encourage others calculated to strengthen and per- 
petuate the Spanish authority, engaged Governor Caron- 
delet in a course of intrigue during his entire adminis- 
tration. 

His first step, after putting the country under his 
jurisdiction in an improved state of defence, was to dis- 



HISTORICAL OUTLINE. 83 

patch an emissary, an intelligent Englisliman named 
Power, to Kentucky, to confer secretly with the most 
influential individuals who were disposed to a separation 
from the Atlantic States, and an alliance with Spain; 
to give assurances of the concurrence of the government 
of Louisiana, and to make a tender of arms, ammuni- 
tion, and money. 

The affairs of the province were further complicated 
by the demand made by Georgia, through her commis- 
sioner Colonel Thomas Green, for the surrender of that 
part of the province lying north of latitude 31°, as being 
within her chartered limits. 

The demand was treated with derision, but this bold 
assumption of Colonel Green, a Spanish subject, who 
had but recently emigrated from Tennessee, rendered 
him an object of suspicion, and on the first plausible 
pretext he was placed in confinement. 

The vigilance of the government of the United States 
rendered Genet's scheme abortive, and his agents in the 
south were arrested in consequence of measures taken 
by the legislature of South Carolina. 

' Power, on his return, having recommended that an 
officer of rank should be sent to the mouth of the Ohio, 
to meet with several influential individuals of Kentucky 
whom he had visited, and who still entertained the de- 
sign of a separation of the western people from the 
Union, Don Manuel Gayoso de L^mos, then the com- 
mandant at Natchez, was accordingly dispatched by 
Baron de Carondelet, early in the summer of 1795, on 
this mission, but with the ostensible object of erecting a 
fort at the Chickasaw Blufls. 

Power, sent by Gayoso for the purpose, met with Se- 
bastian at the Red Banks. Innis, Nicholas, and others 
expected, were prevented by various causes from being 



84 HISTORICAL OUTLINE. 

present. Sebastian, however, claiming authority to 
treat with Gayoso in their names, was conducted by 
Power to the latter, who was found engaged with his 
party in some trivial works on the right side of the Mis- 
sissippi, opposite the mouth of the Ohio. Gayoso pro- 
posed that Sebastian should accompany him down the 
river to a conference with Governor Carondelet, and 
after a short delay they proceeded together, accompanied 
by Power as far as Natchez, where they stopped. In 
January, 1796, Gayoso, Sebastian, and Power, went to 
New Orleans, from whence the two latter sailed for 
Philadelphia. 

With a knowledge of these circumstances, the motives 
for procrastination, and the impediments thrown in the 
way of the surrender of the country to the United 
States, in pursuance of the treaty of San Lorenzo, which 
was concluded the 27th of October, 1795, will be better 
understood. 

By the latter treaty, the southern boundary of the 
United States, as given in their treaty of peace with 
Great Britain, was fully recognized, and the navigation 
of the Mississippi for its whole breadth, from its source 
to the gulf, was declared free to the subjects of the 
King of Spain and the citizens of the United States. 

The Spanish officers in New Orleans, however, had 
embraced the belief that this treaty was entered into at 
a critical junction in the affairs in Europe, to secure the 
neutrality of the United States, and to counteract the 
projects of Great Britain, in which latter they believed 
it had failed, and that Spain, no longer interested in 
fulfilling its stipulations, would not carry it into effect. 

Under this persuasion. Baron de Carondelet renewed 
his negotiations with the Kentucky malcontents. Power 
was again sent among them to keep alive the scheme of 



HISTORICAL OUTLINE. 85 

secession by the western people. He delivered the 
packets given him in charge by the Spanish governor for 
General Wilkinson, at Greenville. On his return, how- 
ever, he reported an entire change in the dispositions 
and views of the people of Kentucky, who, he now 
found, were perfectly satisfied with the Federal govern- 
ment, since it had obtained for them, by the late treaty, 
the principal object to attain which only the separation 
from the Union had heretofore been thought of; and 
such a measure was now viewed with utter aversion. 

Not yet satisfied of the futility of his machinations, 
Carondelet determined on still another and final effort 
to detach the western people from the Atlantic States. 
Power was again sent on this errand. Bribery was to 
be adroitly employed; assurances were to be given that, 
" if a hundred thousand dollars, properly distributed in 
Kentucky, could induce the people to resist, it should be 
furnished;" and money and arms, including twenty 
pieces of artillery, were freely offered. General Wilkin- 
son, then the commander of the forces of the United 
States, was to be dazzled with the prospect of the bril- 
liant and easy career opened upon him; the glory of 
being the liberator and founder of the Western States 
was to be presented to his view ; at the least movement, 
he was to be told, the people would hail him as the 
general of the new republic, his reputation would raise 
him an army, and France and Spain would enable him 
to pay it. Power again met Sebastian at Louisville, 
when certain stipulations were considered, without which 
none could be expected to embark in the enterprise. 
The former then proceeded to meet General Wilkinson 
at Detroit, and the latter was to communicate the 
baron's propositions to Innis and Nicholas. 

On learning the arrival of Power, Wilkinson caused 



86 HISTORICAL OUTLINE. 

him to be arrested, and brought into the fort ; gave him 
a cold reception; and treated the baron's project as 
chimerical and impossible to be executed. The people 
having obtained, by the treaty, all they wanted, had no 
need of connection or alliance with Spain. He was told 
that a full compliance with the treaty, and the delivery 
of the country under existing circumstances, was all that 
remained for the governor to do. 

In September, 1797, Wilkinson, delivering his answer 
for the baron to Power, sent him out of the country 
under a military guard. 

The treaty with Spain had stipulated that the com- 
missioners of both nations should meet at Natchez, 
within six months after the ratification. Andrew Elli- 
cott was appointed commissioner on the part of the 
United States, and Gayoso on that of Spain. Furnished 
with a military escort, EUicott left Pittsburg on the 23d 
of October, 1796. For the accommodation of his party 
and stores, he was provided with four boats, including a 
barge with a comfortable cabin, in which General Wil- 
kinson had just ascended the river. About the close of 
December, his progress was arrested at the mouth of the 
Ohio by ice, in which his boats were blocked up for 
some time. 

Here Ellicott met with Philip Noland, a man who had 
acquired considerable celebrity for his enterprise and 
travels among the Indians in the Spanish territory, 
where he had been engaged in taking wild horses; he 
had with him two trading-boats, and was induced by 
Ellicott to accompany him down the river, and proved 
very useful. 

On the 2d of February, the expedition arrived at New 
Madrid. Ellicott's party was saluted by a discharge of 
artillery from the Spanish garrison, and was hospitably 



HISTORICAL OUTLINE. 87 

entertained by the commandant and officers of the gar- 
rison. Here the commandant communicated to him a 
letter received from the Governor-General Baron de 
Carondelet, in the preceding November, directing him 
not to permit the party to descend the river until the 
posts were evacuated, which could not be done until the 
water rose. The commandant remarked that he felt 
much embarrassed by the order, but, as the objection on 
the score of low water no longer existed, he agreed, 
upon the representations of Ellicott as to the delays he 
had already experienced, not to oppose any obstacle to 
his proceeding. 

On the 8 th of February, the party arrived at the 
Chickasaw Bluff. The commandant received the com- 
missioner with politeness, but appeared embarrassed by 
his arrival and surprised that he had been suffered to 
pass New Madrid. 

At the Walnut Hills (now Vicksburg), which was 
reached on the 19 th, considerable works were found to 
have been erected by the Spaniards. The post was con- 
sidered a very important one, and capable of being made 
very strong. The boats were brought to by the firing of 
a piece of artillery ; but the same politeness and hospi- 
tality received at the other posts were extended to 
Ellicott and his party. The commandant, however, 
affected an ignorance of its object and even of the exist- 
ence of the treaty. 

A short distance below the Walnut Hills, Ellicott was 
overtaken by an express sent after him in a light boat, 
with a letter which had just been received at the fort. 
The communication was from Governor Gayoso, inform- 
ing Ellicott that he was not prepared to evacuate the 
posts immediately for want of vessels, but which were 
soon expected, and to request him to leave the troops 



88 HISTORICAL OUTLINE. 

(composing his escort) about the mouth of the Bayou 
Pierre. The object was stated to be to prevent any un- 
foreseen misunderstanding between the Spanish troops 
and those of the United States. 

Although the request was deemed indecorous and un- 
reasonable, the escort was left at the Bayou Pierre, 
where they arrived in the afternoon of the 22d of 
February. At this place, a friend of the commissioner, 
Colonel Peter Bryan Bruin, an 'officer of the revolu- 
tionary army, and subsequently one of the judges of the 
Mississippi Territory, had resided for some years, and 
from him Ellicott derived much useful information re- 
specting the principal inhabitants of the country, and 
their sentiments towards the United States, and the 
measures proper to be adopted to carry out the im- 
portant trust committed to him. In order to be of 
further service, it was agreed that Colonel Bruin should 
repair to Natchez, which, to prevent suspicion, and not 
to be seen with Ellicott until after the interview of the 
latter with the governor, he did, in one of Noland's boats, 
and the day after their arrival was formally introduced 
by Gayoso to Ellicott as an entire stranger. 

Immediately after arriving at the Natchez landing, on 
the evening of the 24th of February, 1797, the commis- 
sioner addressed a note to Governor Gayoso, apprising 
him of his arrival, and requesting him to state when it 
would be convenient to receive his credentials. 

On the same day the reception of the note was ac- 
knowledged through Mr. Vidal, the Secretary of the 
governor; but, as he avoided fixing a time for the pro- 
posed interview, several verbal messages were exchanged 
before tbis point was arranged. It was finally agreed 
that a meeting should take place at the government 
house, on the afternoon of the 25th. 



HISTOKICAL OUTLINE. 89 

The credentials of the commissioner were then pre- 
sented, and the governor being pressed to name a day on 
which their operations should commencCj named the 
19th of the following month. , 

Having, on the 27th, notified the Governor-General, 
the Baron de Carondelet, of his arrival, by letter directed 
to New Orleans, EUicott on the same day fixed his encamp- 
ment on the hill at the upper end of the town, about a 
quarter of a mile from the fort. This encampment was 
a short distance to the northeast of the present site of 
the mansion house. On the 29th, the American flag 
was hoisted, and about two hours after a message was 
received from the governor directing it to be taken down, 
a request that met with a positive refusal, and the flag 
"wore out upon the staff." 

The suspicions which the occurrences at the different 
Spanish posts in coming down the river had inspired, 
that the delivery of the country was to be delayed if 
not refused, were now confirmed. 

Before encamping, Ellicott was informed, through a 
confidential channel, that Carondelet had stated in pri- 
vate conversation, before the arrival of Ellicott, that the 
treaty would not be carried into effect. Gayoso had 
made a similar statement in a letter to a confidential 
friend. The delay on their part, it was said, would 
render the treaty a dead letter. It was also asserted 
that the country either was or would be ceded to 
France. 

From prudential considerations, and not to excite 
suspicions injurious to those from whom it was derived, 
this information was kept a profound secret. All the 
evasions and subterfuges which, it will be seen, were 
subsequently adopted, as shown in the correspondence 
with Carondelet and Gayoso, although assigned to dif- 



90 HISTORICAL OUTLINE. 

ferent causes, were designed to gain time whilst Power 
was endeavoring to carry out the schemes of the go- 
vernor-general in Kentucky. 

The first step taken by Ellicott, under these untoward 
circumstances, was to sound the disposition of the in- 
habitants, when it was found that a large majority of 
them were desirous of becoming citizens of the United 
States. Although many of them had removed from the 
British colonies before the conclusion of the peace with 
Great Britain, with the suspicion of having been on the 
wrong side on the question of independence, and that 
not a few of the influential class were Englishmen who 
had been connected with the army or held office under 
the government of West Florida, yet now, under altered 
circumstances, and with better views, there were very few 
who did not prefer the free government of the United 
States to the intolerant and arbitrary one of Spain. 

The party of EUicott encamped in Natchez, exclusive 
of the escort under Lieutenant McClary, left at Bayou 
Pierre, consisted of about thirty persons, generally armed 
with rifles, and expert in the use of them; and the 
commissary was directed to procure privately, as large a 
supply of ammunition as could be done among their 
friends. 

The Indians, of whom considerable numbers were 
always loitering about the town, having been insolent 
and made threats against the American party, Ellicott 
seized upon the occasion to justify an application to 
Gayoso to withdraw his objections to his escort's joining 
him at Natchez. 

In reply, Gayoso stated that the conduct attributed 
to the Indians was very unusual there; but that he had 
foreseen some such difficulty from the time that Ellicott 
manifested a desire of having his colors flying, " before 



HISTORICAL OUTLINE. 91 

all the transactions were terminated," (alluding to the 
evacuation of the Spanish garrison.) . As to the escort, 
he had not the least objection to its being withdrawn 
from its actual position; being answerable for the tran- 
quillity of the country, however, he felt sensibly hurt at 
the necessity of withholding his consent to its landing at 
Natchez, feeling positively confident that some disagree- 
able circumstances would happen by the conjunction 
proposed. 

He expressed his regret that the arrival of Ellicott 
had been delayed until after war had ensued between 
Spain and Great Britain, which had so added to the 
cares and duties of the governor-general that he could 
not leave New Orleans long enough to attend to the 
running of the boundary line, and that that duty had 
now devolved upon him, Gayoso, but that as yet he was 
unprovided with everything requisite for the business. 
The geometer, and other officers to be employed, were 
already on their way from New Orleans to Clarkesville, 
a point near latitude 31°, where the operations were to 
be commenced, and that he would himself repair thither 
as soon as his equipage should arrive. 

He suggested, therefore, that Ellicott should repair to 
Clarkesville or Loftus Cliffs, where his escort might join 
him without apprehension of any disagreeable collision. 

By the refusal, contained in this letter, of permission 
to land the escort at Natchez, Ellicott found himself in 
a dilemma, having already sent an express to direct 
Lieutenant McClary to join him with his command, and 
his arrival was momentarily expected. 

He replied, therefore, immediately to the letter of 
Gayoso, objecting to leaving Natchez, as that place was 
designated in the treaty for the meeting of the joint 
commission; but he added that, as the conduct of the 



92 HISTORICAL OUTLINE. 

Indians had ceased to be objectionable, he was now the 
less anxious that his escort should be stationed at his 
present encampme^it, and proposed that it should be di- 
rected to come down to Bacon's Landing, a short distance 
below Natchez, from whence it could secure its requisite 
supplies. 

To this the governor politely assented by a communi- 
cation through his aid, Major Minor. 

On the next day the escort arrived and took up its 
encampment at Bacon's Landing. 

Major Stephen Minor, above mentioned, was a native 
of Pennsylvania; he first visited New Orleans in 1780, 
to procure military stores for the American posts on the 
Ohio and Monongahela. On his return, with a caravan 
of loaded mules, not far from the present post of Arkan- 
sas, his stores were plundered and his men all murdered ; 
his own escape being due to a most fortuitous detention 
by sickness, a few hours behind his party. 

He afterwards repaired to New Orleans, joined Galvez 
in his expedition against Mobile, where his remarkable 
skill with the rifle, and his acts of gallantry during the 
siege, attracted the notice, and secured the favor of the 
general, by whom his position in the Spanish army was 
advanced. 

In 1783, he was sent to Natchez, where his rank 
seems to have been that of "Aid-Major" to the post. 
He remained at Natchez during the whole term of the 
Spanish jurisdiction, acting during the latter period as 
aid to Governor Gayoso, by whom, when appointed as 
Governor-General of Louisiana, he was left as acting 
commandant of the post of Natchez ; and De Grand Pre, 
appointed to succeed Gayoso, not assuming the duties of 
the office. Major Minor continued to act until the coun- 
try was evacuated. 



HISTORICAL OUTLINE. 93 

Subsequently, he acted as commissioner on the bound- 
ary line in place of Gayoso. 

He is said to have endeared himself to his country- 
men, the American settlers, by his acts of friendliness 
and protection, and was applied to on all occasions, in 
cases of difiiculty. 

Many were the instances in which his influence with 
the governor prevailed, where the party menaced had, 
through too great a spirit of independence, or perhaps, 
turbulence, become involved in a collision with the 
Spanish authorities. 

Lieutenant McClary had been but a few days at his 
new quarters, at Bacon's Landing, when complaint was 
made that he had caused to be arrested and detained 
against their will, several persons claimed to be deserters 
from the American army. 

About the same time, the artillery taken from the 
fort to the landing for shipment, was taken back and re- 
mounted. 

On the 23d of March, Ellicott, in a letter to Gayoso, 
cites this fact, mentions some insolent treatment which 
American citizens had recently met with at the Walnut 
Hills, and adverts to the delay in entering upon the 
running of the boundary line, as giving grounds for 
apprehension that the treaty would not be observed 
with good faith by the Spanish government, and asks 
from the governor an explanation. He further inquired 
if it was not true that every exertion was then making, 
to put the post at Walnut Hills in a complete state of 
defence. 

The explanations of Gayoso were considered incon- 
sistent and unsatisfactory. 

It was now known that Lieutenant Pope, with a de- 
tachment of troops, was descending the river. 



94 HISTORICAL OUTLINE. 

Averse to any reinforcement of the American troops, 
Gayoso dispatched his aid, Major Minor, to the Wahiut 
Hills, with a request to Lieutenant Pope, to delay his 
arrival until he was prepared for the evacuation of the 
Spanish posts. 

Ellicott declined uniting with the governor in this 
request, as desired, but at the same time wrote to the 
lieutenant, that the sooner he arrived at Natchez the 
better. 

About this time, an individual arrived at Natchez 
with a confidential communication for Ellicott. He ap- 
pears to have had some connection with the designs of 
William Blount, of Tennessee; but, learning from the 
commissioner that their estimation of the character of 
that individual did not accord, the communication was 
not made. 

He remained at Natchez a few weeks, in close associ- 
ation with Colonel Anthony Hutchins and Mr. Rapalje, 
both of whom were in the British military establish- 
ment. 

Ellicott admits that he was much embarrassed by the 
mysterious conduct of this individual, whose name he 
withholds, but intimates that he held some office in the 
United States, and was paid for his services, whatever 
they were, by the public. 

On the 29 th of March, 1797, Gayoso issued a procla- 
mation, assigning as a motive, his apprehensions that 
the dangerous insinuations of busy and malignant persons 
might agitate and disturb the public tranquillity. The 
public were cautioned against being led by their ^Hnnocent 
credulity r into any measures which might frustrate all 
the advantages they would have a right to expect, if 
they continued, as heretofore, their strict attachment to 
his majesty. These advantages are stated to be the 



HISTORICAL OUTLINE. 95 

support of his majesty to the rights of the inhabitants 
in their real property, and protection from distress on 
account of their depending debts. Assurances were 
given that although the established Catholic religion only 
could be publicly allowed, yet none should be molested 
on account of their religious principles, or hindered in its 
private exercise. And finally, the inhabitants were ad- 
monished not to deviate from the principles of adhesion 
to the government, until the negotiations now on foot 
between the United ■ States and Spain were concluded, 
and thereby the real property of the inhabitants secured. 

This proclamation, although artfully conceived by the 
governor, and calculated to attach two large classes of 
the community to his interests (the landholders and 
the debtors), yet failed fully to quiet the minds of the 
people. The fact, now distinctly announced, that the 
evacuation of the country was indefinitely postponed, or 
at least during the pending negotiations, produced much 
irritation. 

To counteract this effect, when the governor became 
aware of it, he caused Ellicott to be informed that he 
had received orders from the Baron de Carondelet to 
have the artillery and stores removed from the forts, 
which were to be given up to the American troops on 
their arrival. 

Under this excitement, a number of respectable inhabi- 
tants called upon Ellicott, and presented an address, 
drawn up, it was said, by Narsworthy Hunter, after- 
wards the delegate to Congress. In style, this address 
was inflated, and it must be confessed the enumeration 
of grievances exaggerated. It ended by calling upon 
Ellicott, " in the name of every friend of that emblem of 
peace and science (the American flag ?) which had been 
recently displayed to them, to stand forth with a confi- 



96 HISTORICAL OUTLINE. 

dence suitable to the dignity of his commission, and de- 
mand of the governor passports with leave for all such 
as would dispose of their property and avail themselves 
of a change of situation by withdrawing to the United 
States." 

Extracts from this address were communicated by 
Ellicott to Governor Gayoso. In doing so, he took occa- 
sion to state that, since his arrival in the district, he 
had uniformly counselled the inhabitants to submission 
to the government now in force, until the jurisdiction of 
the United States should be extended over them, the 
period of which could not be distant, and which they 
were led to expect. But his excellency's proclamation, 
the remounting the guns in the fort, and sending his aid 
to the Walnut Hills to stop the descent of the American 
troops, had produced doubts as to the intended delivery 
of the country to the United States. 

The governor denied that there was a word of truth 
in the address. No notice, he said, had been taken of 
the satisfaction which some had expressed of speedily 
becoming citizens of the United States ; nor had any one 
been molested on that account. There had been no 
instance of opposition being made to any person to the 
selling their property and removing from the country ; 
the demand for such permission was therefore unneces- 
sary. The proclamation had been deem.ed necessary to 
quiet the people, and to explain the cause of delay ; and 
he was now authorized to state that the general-in-chief 
found it necessary to consult his majesty on a point of 
difference between himself and General Wayne, the 
latter requiring the surrender of the posts as they stood, 
and the Baron de Carondelet claiming that they should 
be dismantled and razed. 

The intentions of the Spanish government being now 



HISTORICAL OUTLINE. 97 

clearly understood, it became a matter of interest to 
secure the country to the United States, and to protect 
those of the inhabitants who had avowed their attach- 
ment to it; some of whom had indiscreetly committed 
themselves by intemperate expressions towards their 
present rulers. 

Offers were made to Ellicott of aid in expelling the 
Spanish garrison, and taking forcible possession of the 
country. Among these. Col. Green, who, in 1793, had 
acted as the commissioner in behalf of Georgia, and had 
manifested an imprudent zeal in favor of the immediate 
surrender of the country, made an offer to Ellicott of 
his services, with a hundred volunteers, to seize upon it. 
Indiscreetly permitting his designs to become known to 
the governor, his arrest was ordered; but he had the 
fortune to escape to Tennessee. 

The most extraordinary proposition was that which 
Ellicott states was made to him by Col. Anthony Hut- 
chins, which was no other than to seize the governor by 
surprise, and convey him a prisoner among the Chicka- 
saws. 

Ellicott, who seems to have been at all times suspicious 
of the motives of the colonel, was particularly so on this 
occasion, for reasons which he assigns. The proposition 
was one of so singular a nature as not to be entertained 
for a moment. It was of course rejected; but in a man- 
ner not to give offence, as Col. Hutchins possessed much 
popularity with one class of the inhabitants, and might, 
at the proper time, be useful to the cause of the United 
States. 

It being deemed prudent to increase the strength of 
the military escort, the officer commanding it enlisted 
several recruits. 

This was complained of by the governor as an in- 
7 



98 HISTOEICAL OUTLINE. 

fringement of the sovereignty of the Spanish monarch, 
and he requested that the men should be discharged. 

This was evaded, however, and the governor was in- 
formed that those enlisted were persons who could not 
be considered subjects of his Catholic majesty. 

Some of the soldiers at Bacon's Landing becoming 
sick, the escort was removed on to the high land, about 
a mile and a half from the river, and the same distance 
from Ellicott's quarters. 

Intelligence being received of the arrival of Lieut. 
Pope at the Walnut Hills, Ellicott immediately dispatched 
an express to inform him' of the probability of an early 
rupture between the United States and Spain, and to 
advise him to come to Natchez immediately, that the in- 
habitants, nine-tenths of whom were attached to the 
United States, might, in the event of a rupture, have a 
rally ing-point. 

Doubting the propriety of this step after it was taken, 
Ellicott saw that it would be better, at all events, to have 
the sanction of the governor ; an interview was had with 
him; the peculiar situation of Lieutenant Pope was forci- 
bly represented. It was shown that, being a military 
man on a separate command, ordered to a certain duty 
by his superior, he must perform it or make the attempt; 
he had no choice; come or attempt it he must; and it 
would be better that it should be done in peace than that 
hostilities should be provoked by meeting with opposition. 

The governor, under this view of the case, gave a 
reluctant consent that he should proceed down the river 
without interruption. A second express, with the ne- 
cessary orders, was dispatched, and being stimulated to 
activity by extra compensation, he arrived a very short 
time after the first express, and barely in time to prevent 
a collision between the Spanish garrison and the Ameri- 



HISTORICAL OUTLINE. 99 

can detachment, the latter preparing to embark, and the 
former to resist it. 

On the 24th of April, in the forenoon, Lieutenant Pope 
arrived at the Natchez landing, where he remained until 
next morning. 

In the mean time, orders were given to the escort 
below the city, and at an early hour next morning, the 
two companies met at the north part of the town in 
excellent order, colors flying, attended with their music, 
and after the usual salutations marched a short distance 
in the rear of the commissioner's tent, and encamped on 
a commanding eminence, having both the fort and the 
government house in full view. 

The junction of the two detachments was not fore- 
seen or intended by Gayoso, who saw with extreme cha- 
grin the whole parade, but too late to prevent it. 

This measure, and the good appearance of the men, 
inspired great confidence in the citizens, who had now no 
doubt of being able to keep possession of the country. 

On the 1st of May, Governor Gayoso made Ellicott an 
official communication, as he states, by order of the com- 
mander-general, the purport of which was, that he was 
advised that an attack was proposed against the Spanish 
possessions in Illinois by the British from Canada; that, 
as such an expedition could not proceed except by pass- 
ing through the territories of the United States, an offi- 
cial communication had been made to the United States 
government, requiring that orders should be issued to 
have their territory respected, which no doubt was enter- 
tained would be acquiesced in; that the commander- 
general found himself in consequence, under the neces- 
sity of putting the fortifications at the Walnut Hills in 
a state of defence, to cover Lower Louisiana in case the 
British should succeed against Illinois, for which pur- 



100 HISTORICAL OUTLINE. 

pose a competent force would be sent to the Walnut Hills 
to repair and defend that post; that this formed an 
additional reason for suspending the evacuation of the 
posts, and running of the line; and as, in consequence, 
considerable delay must ensue, the proposal was made 
to the commissioner, either to remain at Natchez, go 
down to Lower Louisiana, or, as was thought preferable, 
to remove to Villa Gayoso, where there were sufficient 
buildings for the accommodation of the commissioner's 
party, including the troops. 

Villa Gayoso was situated about twenty miles north of 
Natchez, on the Mississippi Bluff; the site handsome and 
commanding. The place was quite new, and the build- 
ings, which were comfortable, and of recent construction, 
consisted of a church, priest's house, officers' quarters, 
and barracks for soldiers. 

As Lieutenants Pope and Ellicott did not agree in the 
reply proper to be made to this communication, and as 
the lieutenant considered that it should come from him, 
Ellicott merely addressed a short note to the governor, 
reiterating his intention, previously expressed, of remain- 
ing at Natchez, and for the rest referred him to Lieuten- 
ant Pope's communication as commander of the United 
States detachment, whom the governor's communication 
chiefly concerned. 

On the 2d of May, Colonel Guillimard, the surveyor 
appointed in behalf of his Spanish majesty under the late 
treaty, arrived. On the following day, laborers and arti- 
ficers were engaged in repairing the fort, and several 
additional pieces of artillery were mounted. On the 7th 
a reinforcement of forty men arrived, and on the 9 th 
Colonel Guillimard, with several officers and a boat-load 
of intrenching tools, proceeded to Walnut Hills. 

Ellicott lost no time in calling this fact to the notice of 



HISTORICAL OUTLINE. 101 

the governor, and requesting a definite answer as to the 
time he would be ready to proceed with the running of 
the line. 

He was informed, in reply, that the execution of the 
treaty would depend upon the ministers of the two na- 
tions to whom the business was intrusted, and through 
which channel both the commissioner and the comman- 
der-general would be informed of the time when the 
boundary would be run. 

A company of grenadiers arrived at the fort on the 
16 th of May, and after a short delay proceeded to the 
Walnut Hills. 

Philip Noland, who, from his singular management 
and address, possessed much of Governor Carondelet's 
confidence, had been some weeks in New Orleans. The 
governor informed him that the troubles were becoming 
serious at Natchez, and that he was determined to quiet 
them by giving the Americans lead ; and he was asked 
if he would take a part ; to w^hich Noland replied am- 
biguously, " a very active oner 

On the 17th of May, more troops passed Natchez on 
the way to Walnut Hills. The reinforcement of that 
post, and the fort at Natchez, kept the inhabitants in 
constant fear, as they considered these preparations as 
designed against them. 

To avert the calamities which they in consequence 
apprehended, many plans for attacking the Spaniards 
were devised and communicated to Ellicott, and rejected 
as premature, and calculated to involve the United States 
in war. 

About this time, a serious difficulty took place between 
the Baron de Carondelet and Governor Gayoso, the true 
nature of which was not known, but which doubtless em- 



102 HISTORICAL OUTLINE. 

barrassed their proceedings and to some extent discon- 
certed their plans. 

On the 1st of June, a proclamation of the Baron, of 
the 24th of May, was communicated to Ellicott, and 
which, having some doubts of its authenticity, he found 
was not known to either Gayoso or Minor. 

The proclamation, after adverting to some evil-disposed 
persons, who had nothing to lose, having endeavored to 
draw the inhabitants of Natchez into improper measures, 
the consequences of which would fall only on those who 
possessed property, whilst the perturbators would screen 
themselves by flight, proceeds to detail or reiterate the 
causes which had delayed the evacuation of the country, 
and the suspension of the measures for establishing the 
line of demarcation, attributing these delays to the im- 
perious necessity of putting the country in a state of de- 
fence, to protect it from the apprehended attack by the 
English from Canada upon the Illinois, and Lower Louis- 
iana. In conclusion, the hope was indulged that the in- 
habitants of Natchez would behave with tranquillity, and 
give proofs of their affection and attachment to the Span- 
ish government. 

In this, the governor gave "proofs that he was ignorant 
of, or mistook, the temper and wishes of not a few of the 
inhabitants of the district, to some of whom nothing 
would have been more acceptable than the re-establish- 
ment of the British rule. The great majority of the 
people, however, were impatient to become citizens of the 
United States. 

The appearance of this proclamation, so far from quiet- 
ing, wrought up the public mind to the point of explosion. 

At this time, an itinerant Baptist preacher, named 
Hannah, asked permission to preach in the American 
camp ; but, as public worship in the Spanish provinces 



HISTORICAL OUTLINE. 103 

was allowed only to the Catholics, there appeared to be 
an obstacle in the way. Upon application, however, Go- 
vernor Gayoso gave his consent without hesitation. As 
the country was in a highly inflamed state, it was stipu- 
lated by Ellicott that the preacher should not touch upon 
or make any allusions to political subjects in his dis- 
course. 

The novelty of a Protestant sermon drew together a 
large number of persons; and the preacher, being a 
weak, vain man, was greatly puffed up with the atten- 
tion he received. 

Highly elated with the reception his sermon received, 
which was more owing to its novelty than its merits, 
and emboldened by permission to speak in public, the 
preacher mingled with the people of the town, and his 
enthusiastic zeal being somewhat heightened by stimu- 
lants, entered into a religious controversy with some 
Irish Catholics, who, in return for the offensive manner 
in which he spoke of their religion, gave him a beating. 

He immediately called on the governor with a pe- 
remptory demand for redress, threatening, if his request 
was not complied with, to seek it himself. 

The governor, with great forbearance and temper, 
calmly desired him to reflect a few moments upon what 
he had said. The same language and threats being re- 
peated, Gayoso justly became highly incensed, and or- 
dered him into confinement. 

This proceeding of the governor was construed by the 
inhabitants as an attack upon the privileges of an 
American citizen. It was the spark required to inflame 
the public mind and to produce the long foreseen 
explosion. 

Early the next morning, the town was found to be in 
a state of great tumult and confusion. The governor 



104 HISTORICAL OUTLINE. 

and the officers of the government, with several Spanish 
families; took refuge in the garrison. 

Thus, in a few hours, by an impolitic, but, it must be 
admitted, just exercise of power, the governor found his 
authority restricted to the narrow compass of the fort. 

At this juncture, an address to the inhabitants from 
the Baron de Carondelet, as ill-timed and injudicious 
as his late proclamation, made its appearance, and, to- 
gether with the late infringement of the liberty of an 
American citizen in the person of Hannah, the preacher, 
rendered the disaffection and hostility of the inhabitants 
general. 

There was as yet, however, no system or rallying- 
point in the movement. Some were for attacking the 
fort, others for capturing the galleys and getting posses- 
sion of the river. 

On Sunday, the 11th of June, the day after the 
governor retired to the fort, a number of the most 
active opponents of the Spanish authority called upon 
Commissioner Ellicott and Lieutenant Pope, and de- 
clared their intention of commencing hostilities. 

To encourage them was deemed improper, as the 
United States had not yet extended its jurisdiction over 
the country; and to offer direct opposition was impolitic, 
as that would have forfeited all influence and power to 
be useful. It was sought, therefore, to divert the atten- 
tion of the people, if possible, from immediate acts of 
hostility, and by address and management to reduce 
their proceedings to some system by which they might 
be rendered more efficient, and at the same time might 
be restrained and checked if necessary. 

The spirit of the people was therefore ^^liigJily com- 
]}limented" on account of their present exertions. But, 
as it was necessary that the United States should have 



HISTORICAL OUTLINE. 105 

some evidence that their exertions tended to the esta- 
blishment of its sovereignty, it was suggested as proper 
that some declaration to that effect should be signed 
before they could with propriety call on the United 
States for support. 

On the following day, an interview was requested 
with Ellicott and Pope, by the governor, as private gen- 
tlemen, to see if some plan could be devised to quiet the 
present disturbances of the country. Lieutenant Pope 
refused the invitation, and Ellicott therefore informed 
Major Minor, the bearer of the message, that he must 
decline attending alone. 

The following day, Gayoso informed Ellicott by letter, 
that there was no doubt that the inhabitants of the dis- 
trict were in a state of rebellion, with the probable 
design of attacking the fort; that several of the in- 
surgents were riding through the country, obtaining 
signatures to lists already subscribed by many styling 
themselves "Citizens of the United States;" that he 
could not believe that the proceedings had the sanction 
of the commissioner; but should he take an active 
part in them, as he was represented to do, that he, 
Gayoso, protested, in the name of the governor-general, 
against his conduct, and would hold him answerable for 
the consequences. A 'positive answer was requested. 

Ellicott replied that, under the late treaty, the people 
of the district had a right to consider themselves citi- 
zens of the United States ; the compact between the two 
nations was notorious. The governor had recognized 
him as the agent of his government to carry that com- 
pact into effect. No human assurances could have gone 
further than those repeatedly made by his excellency, 
that the treaty would be faithfully executed. Could 
there have been any causes more powerful to produce 



106 HISTOEICAL OUTLINE. 

the present commotion than the repeated violation of 
these assurances? By no principle of national law 
could the people of the district, now in anywise be re- 
garded as subject to the Spanish monarchy. Conceiving 
themselves to be citizens of the United States, they had 
individually come forward to express their wishes and 
intentions. As an offset to the governor's declaration 
that Ellicott should be held responsible for his participa- 
tion of the acts of the inhabitants, the latter added : 
"As you have assisted me in confirming the sentiment 
that this country belongs to the United States, on its 
part, as its commissioner, I protest against the officers of 
his majesty landing any troops or repairing any fortifi- 
cations in the territory. I shall consider such conduct 
as a violation of the treaty, and an attack upon the 
interest, honor, and dignity of my country." 

The governor was assured, however, that, if he had 
any plan of accommodation to propose, consistent with 
justice and honor, he, Ellicott, had every wish to enter 
into a discussion for that purpose. 

At the instance of the governor, a private meeting 
took place next morning at the house of George Cochran, 
at which a rather angry and intemperate discussion en- 
sued, which was near bringing it to an end. The prin- 
ciples of a plan of accommodation were discussed, and 
the concurrence of Lieutenant Pope was obtained to an 
attempt at conciliation by the address of Mr. Cochran 
and others. 

The proclamation which the governor published the 
next day (the 15th of June), contained some expressions 
very offensive to the people. Although not concurred 
in by Ellicott, it met with no opposition from him. Its 
reception by the people might have been foreseen ; it 
was torn to pieces, and treated with contempt. 



HISTOEICAL OUTLINE. 107 

The opposition now assumed a grave aspect, and ac- 
quired some form. Several companies of militia were 
organized, and made ready for service ; and it was deter- 
mined to hold a meeting of the principal inhabitants on 
the 20th inst. 

Both parties, in the mean time, continued their pre- 
parations, and the governor exerted himself in rein- 
forcing and strengthening the fort, his force being too 
inconsiderable to justify offensive operations. 

One of the guns of the fort was brought to bear upon 
the tent of the commissioner, and a slight collision took 
place between the patrols of the two parties at night. 
Shots were exchanged, but without much damage. 

On the 19th, by the request of the governor, Ellicott 
met him at the house of his aid. Major Minor, which the 
governor reached privately by a circuitous route through 
the canebrakes and thickets passing to the north of the 
plantation, and through the cornfield. The humiliating 
state to which he was reduced, had made, says Ellicott, 
a visible impression upon his mind and countenance ; his 
situation was poignant and distressing. 

He assured Ellicott, that he was sincerely desirous of 
coming to terms of accommodation with the people ; and 
as he learned that the latter intended to be present at 
the appointed meeting of the inhabitants, desired him to 
use his influence to bring about a compromise. 

A party of Choctaw Indians, returning from a war 
expedition against another tribe west of the Mississippi, 
arrived at Natchez at this period. Stopping as usual to 
pay their respects to the governor, they found him shut 
up in the fort : their respect for him and his people was 
sensibly diminished in consequence; and this incident 
had the effect of attaching the Choctaws to the American 
interest, and increasing their attentions. 



108 HISTORICAL OUTLINE. 

On the 20th of June, 1797, the proposed meeting of 
the inhabitants took place at the house of Benjamin 
Bealk, about eight miles eastward of Natchez, near the 
then crossing of the Natchez trace, at the muddy fork of 
St. Catharine's Creek. 

In consequence of the arrangements previously agreed 
upon by persons of property and influence in the coun- 
try, little difficulty was found in prevailing upon the 
people to submit the future management of their affairs 
to a committee to be chosen by themselves. 

Colonel Anthony Hutchins, contrary to expectation, 
took an active, usefal, and decided part in bringing about 
this result. 

The election was consequently held, and resulted in 
the choice of Anthony Hutchins, Bernard Lintot, Isaac 
Gaillard, William Ratliff, Cato West, Joseph Bernard, 
and Gabriel Benoist. 

To the foregoing committee, with a singular impro- 
priety, as would now seem, considering their official re^ 
lations, and in which it seems strange they should have 
acquiesced, Andrew EUicott and Lieutenant Pope were 
added by unanimous vote. 

On the same evening the committee assembled at 
Natchez, and informed the governor of their appoint- 
ment. The governor offered them the use of the govern- 
ment-house, which they declined, and then proceeded to 
business in a building of Mr. William Dunbar, which 
was in the course of preparation for the use of Ellicott, 
having been gratuitously tendered to him. 

On the 22d of June, the committee submitted the fol- 
lowing propositions to Governor Gayoso, and requested 
him to obtain the concurrence of Governor Carondelet 
therein : — 



HISTORICAL OUTLINE. 109 

" First : The inhabitants of the District of Natchez, 
who, under the belief' and persuasion that they were 
citizens of the United States, agreeably to the late treaty, 
have assembled and embodied themselves, are not to be 
persecuted or injured for their conduct on that account, 
but to stand exonerated and acquitted. 

" Secondly : The inhabitants of the government afore- 
said, above the thirty-first degree of north latitude, are 
not to be embodied as militia, or called upon to aid in 
any military operations, except in case of Indian inva- 
sion, or for the suppression of riots during the present 
state of uncertainty, owing to the late treaty between his 
Catholic majesty and the United States not being fully 
carried into effect. 

"Thirdly: The laws of Spain in the above district 
shall be continued, and on all occasions be executed with, 
mildness and moderation ; nor shall any inhabitant be 
transported as a prisoner out of this government under 
any pretext whatever : and, notwithstanding the opera- 
tion of the law aforesaid is hereby admitted, yet the in- 
habitants shall be considered to be in an actual state of 
neutrality during the continuance of their uncertainty 
as mentioned in the second proposition. 

" Fourthly : We, the committee aforesaid, do engage 
to recommend it to our constituents, and to the utmost 
of our power endeavor to observe the peace, and promote 
the due execution of justice. 

Anthony Hutchins, Cato West, 

Bernard Lintot, Joseph Bernard, 
Isaac Gaillard, and 

William Ratliff, Gabriel Benoist." 

The foregoing propositions were agreed to by the 
2;overnor as follows : — 



\ 



J 



110 HISTORICAL OUTLINE. 

"Don Manuel Gayoso de Lemos, Brigadier in the 
Koyal Armies, Governor, Military and Political, of the 
Natchez and its dependencies, &c. 

" Being always desirous of promoting the public good, 
we do join in the same sentiment with the committee, 
by acceding to their propositions in the manner follow- 
ing : By the present, I do hereby accede to the four 
foregoing propositions established and agreed upon for 
the purpose of establishing the peace and tranquillity of 
the country; and that it may be constant and notorious, 
I sign the present under the seal of my arms, and coun- 
tersigned by the secretary of this government at Natchez, 
the 22d day of June, 1797. 

Manuel Gayoso de Lemos, 
Joseph Vidal, Secretary T 

On the following day, the governor and his officers 
left the fort and returned to their houses. 

It is worthy of remark that during the two weeks in 
which the inhabitants were in a state of revolt, no act 
of violence or breach of the peace took place. 

The necessity of electing a permanent committee to 
aid in preserving the good order and peace of the 
country, was strongly impressed upon the governor, 
who, fully concurring in the propriety of the measure, 
issued a proclamation on the following day for that pur- 
pose, and the following gentlemen were chosen : Joseph 
Bernard, Peter B. Bruin, Daniel Clark, Gabriel Benoist, 
Philander Smith, Isaac Gaillard, Roger Dickson, William 
Ratliff, and Frederick Kimball. 

The election of this committee in effect put an end 
to the Spanish authority in the country. All but one 
of the committee (Frederick Kimball, whose sentiments 
were doubtful, and whose residence proved to be below 



HISTORICAL OUTLINE. Ill 

the line), were stanch friends to the government of the 
United States. 

The committee held its first meeting in the house 
occupied by the American commissioner, on the 15th of 
July, having as before declined the use of the govern- 
ment house tendered for that purpose. 

Contrary to expectation. Colonel Hutchins declined 
serving on the last committee, pleading his age and 
infirmities in excuse. He attended the first meeting of 
the committee, however, as a spectator, and manifested 
great dissatisfaction with its proceedings, which were 
directed first to securing the country to the United 
States, and secondly to the preservation of peace and 
good order. 

Having established their neutrality, and rid them- 
selves of the Spanish authority so far as it was seriously 
obnoxious to them, dissensions soon ensued between 
the inhabitants themselves, and rival parties sprung 
up, and an abortive attempt was made to supersede the 
permanent committee by the choice of another. The 
newly-acquired liberty of the inhabitants was jeopard- 
ized, and the Spanish officers looked on with complacency 
at a state of things which promised in the end to restore 
their lost authority. 

By some very original and unauthorized devices, the 
semblance of a counter-committee was got up ; but 
beyond denunciation, which proved harmless, and the 
getting up a memorial to Congress, which was disre- 
garded, its labors were fruitless. 

Although threatened at one time with an armed force 
of forty men, who were assembled on the Bayou Pierre, 
assured of the protection of the American arms, the com- 
mittee pursued the even tenor of its way. 



112 HISTORICAL OUTLINE. 

In the death of its chairman, Mr. Bernard, the com- 
mittee and the whole country sustained a sensible loss. 

Mr. Gabriel Benoist, who succeeded him as chairman, 
was a very estimable French gentleman, who came to the 
United States with other volunteers from France, to 
assist in achieving our independence ; he had married the 
daughter of a very respectable planter settled in the 
country, and held some office under the Spanish govern- 
ment. He was obnoxious to the turbulent and dis- 
affected, and was accordingly assailed as a French Jaco- 
bin, and vituperation revelled in the vindictive epithets 
bestowed upon him. 

EUicott has left in his journal copious details of these 
differences and bickerings. He had, however, by his 
too active participation in these events, considering his 
official relations, rendered himself obnoxious to some of 
the leading and prominent men engaged in them. His 
statements may be regarded in some degree personal, 
rather highly colored, and tinctured with partisan pre- 
dilections, and it would perhaps be unsafe to adopt them 
implicitly as historical facts. 

Let it be remembered that the country had passed 
under the rule of three different monarchical govern- 
ments, and but recently under that of Great Britain 
during the period of our revolution. Many of the older 
inhabitants had been royalists from principle. Some of 
them were British officers, and continued to receive 
their pay and pensions even after the acquisition of the 
country by the United States. Not a few had migrated 
from the sister States, with strong suspicions of having 
fought on the wrong side of King's Mountain. 

The rivalries of these for power and influence, were 
but the common instincts of ambitious men wherever 
they may be placed. 



HISTORICAL OUTLINE. 113 

With a change of circumstances and of political insti- 
tutions came also a change of views and opinions, and 
many of these persons became none the worse citizens, 
from their antecedents. The descendants of many of 
them, grown up with attachments to American institu- 
tions, have earned for themselves positions of respect- 
ability and influence. 

It would answer no good purpose, therefore, to annoy 
the over-sensitive of the present age, by rending the veil 
which time has spread over the "bygones" of a past 
generation. Let them rest in oblivion. 

On the 26th of July, Gayoso succeeded the Baron de 
Carondelet as governor-general by appointment from the 
Court of Madrid. On his departure for New Orleans on 
the 30th, he left Major Minor to represent him in the 
government at Natchez. 

Governor Gayoso was called to rule over the district 
at an un propitious time. Subjected to the superior 
authority of the governor-general, the Baron de Caron- 
delet, it became his duty to execute orders and carry out 
the measures of the Baron, many of which, we have 
reason to believe, were distasteful to him. The repug- 
nance of the inhabitants to the Spanish rule, and the 
impatience exhibited to throw it off before a substitute 
was organized by the United States, made it necessary 
for the good order and well-being of the country, for 
which he was responsible, to maintain his authority. 
This, under the adverse circumstances in which he was 
placed, rendered his situation annoying and harassing 
in the extreme. In his private intercourse with Ellicott 
and other Americans, he was ever courteous and honor- 
able, and, apart from the duties imposed by his official 
station, he enjoyed for his many good qualities the 



114 HISTORICAL OUTLINE. 

respect and esteem of a large number of the most intel- 
ligent inhabitants. 

He appears to have been just and upright in his ad- 
ministration, and to have advanced, as far as in his 
power, the interests of the district. The city of 
Natchez, on the hill, was founded by him, the land 
being purchased and the town laid off under his direc- 
tion, and various public improvements were executed or 
commenced under his orders. 

He survived his promotion to the office of Governor- 
General of Louisiana but a short time, and, in dying 
'poor, he left the best evidence of these times, of his 
honesty and disinterestedness. 

In July, 1797, the yellow fever prevailed at Natchez; 
one of Ellicott's assistants, and several of his men, were 
carried off by it. As soon as the sick could be carried, 
they were removed to the country, about seven miles 
east of Natchez. Ellicott accompanied them, and the 
spring, at his encampment near the present site of Jeffer- 
son College at Washington, has ever since gone by his 
name. Here his men were restored to health, but re- 
turning to Natchez too soon, he was himself attacked 
by the fever on the 7th of October. 

In November, 1797, the appointment of Colonel De 
Grand Pre, as Governor of Natchez and its dependencies, 
was announced. The Permanent Committee immedi- 
ately took a firm stand, and resolved that he should not 
be received in the capacity of governor; and that the 
assumption of the office by him would be regarded as a 
violation of the neutrality agreed upon, and be resisted 
accordingly. 

The proceedings of the committee were transmitted 
to Governor Gayoso. Grand Pr6, therefore, did not at- 



HISTORICAL OUTLINE. 115 

tempt to take upon himself the authority of his appoint- 
ment, but remained quietly in New Orleans. 

In the early part of December, Captain Guion, with a 
considerable detachment of United States troops, arrived 
at Natchez, and superseded Lieutenant Pope in the 
command. 

The new commandant was much indisposed at the 
period of his arrival, and, although a man of superior 
capacity, and ardent patriotism, it is alleged that his 
judgment, for a time, seemed to be impaired. He was 
surrounded, at the period of his arrival, by many of the 
turbulent, aspiring, and disaffected, who took advantage 
of his situation to prejudice his mind against some of 
the best friends of the United States. Jealous of his 
authority, and determined not to be " made a cipher of" 
he viewed with suspicion the anomalous Permanent Com- 
mittee, and treated it with little respect. 

Taking advantage of the adverse relations between 
the constituted authorities, and the little cordiality sub- 
sisting between the commandant and the commissioner, 
some designing and ambitious persons in the country 
labored assiduously but ineffectually, to supersede the 
authority of the committee by establishing, a military 
government. But the people had experienced too much 
of despotism to yield any of their newly-acquired privi- 
leges. 

On the 10th of January, Governor Gayoso informed 
Ellicott by letter, that he was ordered to evacuate the 
forts at Natchez and the Walnut Hills. The event, 
however, did not take place for more than two months. 
Ellicott gives the following account of it. 

"Late in the evening of the 29th of March, 1798, I 
was informed through a confidential channel, that the 
evacuation would take place the next morning before 



116 HISTORICAL OUTLINE. 

day. I rose at four o'clock, walked to the fort, and 
found the last party or rear guard just leaving it, and 
as the gate was left open, I walked in, and enjoyed from 
the parapet the pleasing prospect of the galleys getting 
under way. They were out of sight of the town before 
daylight." 

The same day the American troops took possession of 
the works. 



Pane 117 



Plate I 




Sriil of lhoFro\iiic*o of HVhI FiorifLtattiirhedlofhofiritish PatoiiTs 



I'l. (■ «.,,!,.. ,(,1 



IVnii,,, l.irtiW l,\'K«-,.T,t<uil PIrilall'' 



' liT H KOM-nilMil 



II. LAND TITLES. 



A. KNOWLEDGE of the origin and character of the vari- 
ous titles by which lands are held, or have been claimed 
in this State, cannot be without interest or utility to 
every planter or landed proprietor in it. The following 
brief outline, therefore, the design of which is to supply 
this information, will not, it is presumed, be deemed 
superfluous or out of place. 

The first grant of land of which we have any account, 
was that most stupendous one made on the 13th of 
October, 1630, by Charles the Eirst of Great Britain, to 
Sir Robert Heath, of which all that part of the State 
lying north of the thirty-first degree of north latitude, 
formed an inconsideroMe portion. In 1637, Heath trans- 
ferred his grant to Lord Maltravers, and it subsequently 
became the property of a Doctor Daniel Coxe, of the 
province of New Jersey; and in 1699, the same year 
that the French established themselves at Baluxi under 
Iberville, his title was recognized and reported upon as 
valid by the attorney-general of King William. 

How the attempt of Coxe, the proprietor, to take pos- 
session and occupy it in the latter year, by sending two 
ships up the Mississippi under Captain Barr, was frus- 



118 LAND TITLES. 

trated by Bienville, has been shown in the preceding 
historical outline. 

The next grants in order, were those made by the 
Company of the Indies, about the year 1718, at Pasca- 
goula and the Bay of St. Louis, on the St. Catharine, 
near Natchez, and on the Yazoo, of the number and 
dimensions of which we are not informed. 

In consequence of the Indian disturbances, and of the 
massacre by the Natchez, these French grants seem to 
have been abandoned. No allusion is subsequently 
made to them ; and those in the Natchez District, at least, 
appear not to have been recognized by the British go- 
vernment, upon obtaining possession of the country. 
Whether such was the case in West Florida proper, is 
not now certainly known. The acquisition by purchase 
from the early French settlers, may have been, in a few 
cases, the origin or basis of the subsequent British 
patents ; as, in a late decision by the courts in Louisiana, 
in favor of the heirs of Pontalba, the title to the lands 
in controversy has been traced back to those early French 
grants. 

From January, 1768, to September, 1779, numerous 
British grants were made by the Governor of West 
Florida ; those in the Natchez District being chiefly made 
to officers of the British army and navy, and in many 
instances were of large dimensions. The largest em- 
braced twenty-five thousand acres ; two others, twenty 
thousand each ; several were for ten thousand ; and very 
few for less than one thousand acres. These were so 
located as to embrace a large portion of the most valu- 
able lands bordering on the Mississippi, for a breadth of 
six or eight miles from Fort Adams to the Yazoo, and 
extending along the alluvial lands of the principal 
streams of the district. 



LAND TITLES. 119 

Extracts from these grants have been given hereto- 
fore. To each was appended, by a ribbon, a ponderous 
wax seal, some three inches in diameter, the British 
arms being impressed on the obverse, with a landscape 
of forest scenery on the reverse, surrounded by the in- 
scription : " Sigillum provincige nostra Florida occiden- 
talis," with other inscriptions and legends.* 

The conditions of these grants as to occupancy, culti- 
vation, and improvement, were such as, if not regarded 
as mere words of form, to render them utterly void. 
Few of the lands granted were occupied or improved to 
the extent required, proof of which was to have been 
made within a stated time. They were, therefore, in- 
choate, if strictly construed, and were never perfected. 
Many of them, however, were nevertheless recognized 
and confirmed by the succeeding Spanish government, 
- which, although acquiring the country by conquest, yet 
with great liberality guaranteed these possessions to the 
holders, upon the performance of certain reasonable re- 
quirements, such as presentation and proof of title, ac- 
companied with occupancy, allowing several years for 
this purpose. 

The titles derived from the Spanish government were 
of two grades ; orders of survey and complete patents, 
the former being the incipient or incomplete form of the 
latter.f 

To procure a grant of land, the applicant addressed a 
Requete (request or petition) to the Spanish governor, in 
New Orleans, and hence, from the corruption of the 
word, the term Ticket, by which one class of these claims 
was known to the early American settlers. 

If the petition was granted, an order of survey was 

* See Plate I. f See Appendix F. 



120 LAND TITLES. 

issued by the governor to the Surveyor-General Don 
Carlos Trudeau, to cause the land prayed for to be sur- 
veyed and put into possession of the petitioner. This 
duty was performed by the deputy-surveyor of the dis- 
trict, and the survey being approved and returned, ac- 
companied by a plat, the governor thereupon granted 
his patent J the usual fees being paid in all the stages of 
the process by the grantee. 

The first warrant or order of survey was issued on 
the 20th of April, 1784, by Don Estevan Miro, who con- 
tinued to officiate as governor, and to make grants until 
the 29 th of August, 1791. He was succeeded by Francis 
Louis Hector El Baron de Carondelet, by whom grants 
were made from the 8th of March, 1792, to the 1st of 
September, 1795. All the patents bear the private seal 
with the coat of arms of the governor, and are counter- 
signed by the secretary Andrez Lopes Armesto. (See 
Plate II.) 

It has been objected that the extension of the limits 
of West Florida, by the British government, to the Ya- 
zoo River, was an infringement of colonial charters or 
grants previously made, and that the titles to land made 
in that portion of the State were necessarily void. 
Spain, also, in wresting by conquest from Great Britain 
the same territory, not truly belonging to her, acquired 
no title thereto to the prejudice of the previous and 
rightful holders; the Spanish grants, therefore, to the 
same extent, were equally invalid. 

This position was subsequently affirmed by the deci- 
sion of the Supreme Court of the United States, and was 
borne out and admitted, virtually, in the treaty of peace 
between the United States and Great Britain, fixing the 
southern boundary of the independent colonies along 
the thirty-first degree of north latitude; and by the 



See pape 1 1 



Plate II 




L y ^cwcoi t '^O (%j o^^"^^ 




OAJa^fz'^ 





^ t (^-^Ly 















racsijiulies of signaliires and seals of ill e S^anisli 

GOVERNORS 0^ LOUISIANA 



B T. r Wiile« ilei 



(>riStuuebj MK.i.tcnlhal 



Crumol.ilh hi I N R.i-.i-nlti,il I'tiil.' 



LAND TITLES. 121 

treaty of San Lorenzo, of the 27tli of October, 1795, by 
which Spain finally yielded possession of this territory, 
to the United States. 

The American government, however, with a paternal 
regard for the inhabitants occupying these lands, made 
provision for the confirmation, not only of the Spanish 
titles, but those of Great Britain, so far as they had been 
recognized by the former government, and were duly 
occupied. 

The incomplete titles, or Spanish orders of survey, if 
occupied and cultivated at the date of the treaty, were 
also to be confirmed under the character of donatiotis 
from the United States, when in fact the whole series, 
both of British or Spanish grants, of whatever grade, 
might so be regarded, being equally void or illegal, ex- 
cept so far as they were recognized by the act of Congress 
providing for their adjudication. 

Large portions of the country being held under Spa- 
nish grants, covering lands claimed by non-resident 
British grantees, much uneasiness was exhibited by the 
holders, to whom they had been confirmed by the Ame- 
rican government, when the British claimants manifested 
a disposition to test the validity of their rights, through 
agents, sent over from England for that purpose. Suits 
were instituted to eject the holders under the Spanish 
grants, and the anxiety of the people became so great 
that Congress was petitioned to compromise and quiet 
those claims. A report of a committee of the House 
of Representatives, made as late as 1814, nearly ten 
years after the claims had been confirmed by the Board 
of Commissioners, adverse to the prayer of the petitioners, 
which seemed to accord superior validity to the British 
grants, from their anterior date, was not calculated to 
allay the anxiety of the occupants. 



122 LAND TITLES, 

The decision of the District Court of the United States, 
in the suit instituted by the heirs of Harcourt, and 
which was fully affirmed by the Supreme Court, settled 
the question finally, and the British grants are now no 
more regarded than that of Sir Robert Heath. 

This decision of the Supreme Court was subsequently 
ably controverted by Chief Justice C. P. Smith, of the 
High Court of this State, when engaged, some years since, 
as counsel for the representatives of Campbell, who 
claimed a tract of land, embracing the town of Rodney, 
under a British patent dated 11th July, 1772. It was 
maintained by Judge Smith, in an elaborate argument, 
sustained by indisputable authority, " That the British 
government had the right, and had exercised it re- 
peatedly, of dismembering or altering the limits or 
boundaries of its royal colonies ; that the crown retained 
the right of property in the soil; that the extension of 
the limits of West Florida, from the thirty-first degree 
of north latitude to a line drawn due east from the 
mouth of the Yazoo, was a right legitimately exercised, 
and the grants made within those limits, by the Governor 
of West Florida, were consequently valid." 

The rejection of the British claims should have rested, 
therefore, solely on their non-recognition by the Spanish 
and American governments, and a failure of the fulfilment 
of the conditions of those grants, and not upon want of 
jurisdiction in the British government. 

So far, all grants of land were confined to districts to 
which the Indian title had been extinguished previous 
to the accession of the country to the United States. 

In 1777, the British government entered into a treaty 
with the Indians at Mobile, by which the boundaries of 
the lands claimed by the French, on the sea-coast and in 
the Natchez District, were defined; and in the year 1779, 



LAND TITLES. 123 

the eastern boundary of the latter district was run, and 
marked by the English surveyor. 

By the treaty of Hopewell, made by Col. Hawkins, 
the American commissioner, with the Indians at Keowee, 
on the 3d of January, 1786, the boundary was again 
established, and, finally, by the treaty held by General 
Wilkinson, at Fort Adams, with the Choctaw Indians, 
on the 17th December, 1801, was fully recognized, and 
a survey authorized under the superintendence of com- 
missioners, which was soon afterwards made by order of 
the American government. 

By the treaty of Mount Dexter, made on the 16th of 
November, 1805, the Choctaws ceded to the United States 
all the lands embraced in the counties of Lawrence, 
Covington, Jones, and Wayne, and those lying to the 
south of them, except perhaps Jackson, Harrison, and 
Hancock, which probably belonged to the Baluxis, and 
some other small tribes, which had removed or become 
extinct before the acquisition of the country by the 
United States, as it does not appear that the Choctaws 
claimed the lands in that quarter west of the Chickasa- 
hay River. 

A further cession was made, at the treaty of Doaks- 
stand, on the Natchez road, on the 18th of October, 1820, 
of the lands on the Mississippi, from the mouth of the 
Yazoo to a point nearly opposite the Arkansas River, 
comprising the counties of Washington, Yazoo, Madison, 
Rankin, Simpson, Copiah, and Hinds, as first established. 
j"-- The residue of the Choctaw possessions in the State 
I were ceded by the treaty of Dancing Rabbit, made on 
the 27th September, 1830, and the Choctaws removed 
to the west of the Mississippi, to lands given them in 
exchange by the United States. 

By the treaty made at Pontotoc Creek, on the 20th of 



124 LAND TITLES. 

October, 1832, the Chickasaws also ceded all their lands 
in Mississippi, to be sold hy the United States, and the 
proceeds, deducting expenses of survey and sale, jpaid to 
them, and within three years removed across the Mis- 
sissippi Eiver to lands purchased by them from the 
Choctaws.* 

By all of these treaties, from that of Mount Dexter, 
certain reservations were made ; these consisted of im- 
provements of some of the Indians who chose to remain 
— of larger reservations to the chiefs and others, and for 
the benefit of Indian orphans. 

Besides these, Congress, in providing for the sales of 
the public lands, made other reservations, such as the 
sixteenth section of every township for schools — the 
grant of a township of lands to Jefferson College, and 
two townships for a State University. 

Congress also granted two sections to the State, for a 
seat of government, upon which the city of Jackson was 
laid off. 

Large grants have also been made to the State, for 
internal improvements; and lastly, all the swamp lands 
have been surrendered to it to constitute a fund for the 
purpose of reclaiming them from inundation, and to fit 
them for cultivation. 

In addition to the claims derived from the British and 
Spanish governments, and the lands sold and patented 
by the United States, all the grants and reservations 
enumerated, constitute the basis of title by which the 
citizens of the State hold their lands. 

The quantity of land, held by title derived from for- 

*By a convention at Washington City, the 24tli of May, 1834, the 
Chickasaws obtained a modiiication of the treaty to allow of grants in 
fee simple to all heads of families and others. 



LAND TITLES. 125 

eign governments, and confirmed by the United States, 
amounts to 767,547 acres, 545,480 of which lie in the 
Natchez district, and 222,067 in the Augusta land dis- 
trict, east of Pearl Kiver. The whole area of the State 
has elsewhere been stated at 35,520,000 acres ; of this, 
it would appear, from data furnished by the census 
report of 1850, 10,490,000 acres are held by individuals, 
of which 3,444,000 are in cultivation. 

The unimproved lands amount therefore to 32,076,000 
acres, of which 25,036,000 acres are still held by the 
United States, or by the State of Mississippi. 



III. AGEICULTUEE. 



THE EARLY STATE AND PROGRESS OF 
AGRICULTURE. 

Several years elapsed, after the establishment of the 
French colony at Baluxi, before even the common 
vegetables of the garden were cultivated, and the sterile 
soil of the sea-shore was not calculated to invite a more 
extended culture, if the character and habits of the 
colonists, chiefly soldiers, deriving all their supplies from 
the mother country, had inclined them to such pursuits. 

It was, therefore, not until the province came under 
the control of the Company of the Indies, that the tillage 
of the earth became to any extent a fixed pursuit. The 
first impulse was then given to planting by the large 
grants to European capitalists, who sent out laborers to 
open and improve their lands. 

The most efficient of these were German redemp- 
tioners ; but the nature of the climate, and the heavy 
labor of removing the dense forests, rendered the pro- 
gress of improvement tedious and discouraging. 

It was soon found necessary to resort to Africa for 
suitable operatives for the prosecution of agricultural 
enterprise ; these were introduced by the company, from 
time to time, to a limited extent, and disposed of to the 



128 AGRICULTURE. 

colonists at established and moderate rates, payable in 
annual instalments in the products of the soil. 

These products were naturally confined, for a con- 
siderable period, to articles of necessity for home con- 
sumption, and notwithstanding some large grants were 
made near Natchez, and on the Yazoo, ostensibly for the 
cultivation of tobacco and indigo ; and, although some 
" large plantations, with extensive improvements," were 
established near the former place, it does not appear 
that anything beyond the spoils of the chase, or the 
peltries procured by traffic with the Indian tribes, was 
exported from the country. 

By the massacre of the inhabitants by the Natchez, in 
1729 and 1730, these establishments were broken up, 
and from this period the French were too much engaged 
in exterminating the Natchez, and in hostile incursions 
among the Chickasaws, to reoccupy and cultivate, ad- 
vantitgeously, their regained possessions. 
^ It was, therefore, under the occupancy of the country 
by the English that we trace the first germ of successful 
and systematic agriculture in Mississippi. 

The emigration which ensued, on the change of rulers, 
being chiefly from the Carolinas, Virginia, Jersey, and 
New England, was from a class differing essentially in 
habits from their more volatile and restless predecessors, 
^the French, who were more addicted to the chase and 
to trafficking with their Indian neighbors, than to more 
laborious and settled pursuits. 

Many of these settlers were accustomed to agriculture, 
and being generally accompanied by their families, re- 
sorted at once to the tillage of the earth as a means of 
support. 

Their cultivation was necessarily rude, and their im- 
plements few and imperfect; yet their products were 



AGEICULTURE. 129 

varied and for the purpose of subsistence ample. Al- 
most every article of prime necessity, which the soil 
could yield, was produced by them to the extent of their 
wants. "^^ Cattle and swine required little other attention 
than protection from the bear and wolf of the forest, 
and were raised abundantly; whilst the small farms, 
frequently confined to a few acres, exhibited a variety of 
productions that is now rarely found together in the 
country. Indian corn, wheat, oats, rye, rice and pota- 
toes, cotton, flax, tobacco and indigo, were almost uni- 
versally cultivated, but rarely, if at all, for exportation. 

In the early stages of the settlement of the colon}'-, 
many of the common conveniences of life were neces- 
sarily dispensed with, or supplied with such substitutes 
as ingenuity or skill could devise and fabricate from the 
productions of the country. 

Not many years since, were to be seen the moulds in 
which the head of one of the most respectable and 
wealthy families of the present day was wont to cast 
the pewter platters and spoons which constituted the 
only plate of himself and neighbors. The inventories of 
the confiscated effects of some prominent, and as then 
regarded, opulent persons, yet preserved among the 
Spanish archives, exhibit a simplicity of attire and fur- 
niture in strong contrast with that which would now 
satisfy those of very contracted means or humble 
station. 

The scarcity and high price of iron, and the con- 
sequent imperfection of agricultural implements, was 
perhaps most felt and least easily remedied. At that 

* In ITTS, Mr. Dunbar enumerates among tlie productions of his 
plantation, rice, tobacco, flaxseed, indigo seed, corn, buckwheat, 
barley, peas, besides many other things. 

9 



130 AGRICULTURE. 

period cut-nails were not invented, and the wrought-nail 
cost a dollar a pound. Tools and all iron implements 
bore a corresponding price, owing, in some degree, to the 
high freights on heavy articles up the Mississippi ; the 
voyage from New Orleans to Natchez, made by keel- 
boats and barges, requiring several weeks. 

A set of plough-irons was, therefore, an acquisition of 
no little value. Iron entered into the composition of 
few of the wagons or carts, and the wheels were often 
made of a transverse section or disk sawed and properly 
fashioned from the trunk of a tree of suitable diameter. 

These trucks constituted, to considerable extent, the 
only means of transportation of heavy articles. Even 
as late as after the introduction of Whitney's saw-gin, 
a now opulent planter, a venerable and highly respected 
citizen, a native of Adams County, states that, in a 
wagon of this kind, he hauled his crop of cotton for two 
years to a neighboring gin ; a framework of cane serving 
in lieu of plank in the construction of the body. 

Not many years before, the same gentleman was 
reduced to the necessity of fabricating his only plough 
by framing a common mattock into a beam, that being 
the only implement suited to the purpose left on his 
plantation by the depredating Indians. 

This was only about sixty-five years since, and oc- 
curred within ten miles of Natchez, and to an individual 
belonging to one of the most opulent and influential 
families in the country at that day. 

Flax was raised chiefly for shoethread and similar 
uses, but in some families linen cloth was made. 

Leather was commonly tanned throughout the country 
in large troughs dug out of the trunks of trees. 

From the earliest occupancy by the English, cotton in 
small quantities, sufficient for domestic purposes, was 



AGRICULTURE. 131 

habitually cultivated ; it was of the black or naked seed 
variety, was planted in hills, and cultivated with the 
hoe. Ffty or sixty pounds was the ordinary quantity 
gathered in a day. The seeds were picked out by the 
hand, or separated from the lint by means of the small 
roller gin.* It was spun and woven at home, and con- 
stituted the chief apparel of the inhabitants ; the small 
quantity of indigo then grown, and the numerous dye- 
stuffs that the forests afforded, supplied all the coloring 
materials required for dyeing the cloth. f 

Rice formed an important article of diet, supplying 
largely the deficiency of flour ; the colonists, especially 
the French, accommodating themselves slowly and re- 
luctantly to bread made from the Indian corn. It was 
prepared by pounding in common wooden mortars, and 
perhaps was not as fair as that which we now purchase, 
but of far richer flavor and more nutritious. 

In the absence of mill-stones, when they could not be 
obtained, the Indian corn was reduced to meal by pound- 
ing in the same way. 

Large herds of cattle were owned by the more opu- 
lent inhabitants, for which the garrison at Natchez 
aflbrded the chief market, and some were driven to New 
Orleans shortly previous to the change of government. 
The price of common stock cattle was about the same 
then as at this time. 

* See Plate YII., Figs. 1 and 2. 

f The first indigo made by Mr. Dunbar was by steeping it in 
barrels. 



132 AGRICULTURE. 



THE CULTIYATIOIS' OP TOBACCO. 

When the country came under the dominion of Spain, 
a market was opened in New Orleans ; a trade in tobacco 
was established, and a fixed and remunerating price was 
paid for it, delivered at the king's warehouses. Tobacco 
thus became the first marketable staple production of 
Mississippi.* 

The tobacco plant, indigenous to the country, soon 
came into general cultivation. 

The larger planters packed it in the usual way in 
hogsheads. Much of it, however, was put up in carrets, 
as they were called, resembling in size and form two small 
sugar-loaves united at the larger ends. 

The stemmed tobacco was laid smoothly together in 
that form, coated with wrappers of the extended leaf, 
enveloped in a cloth, and then firmly compressed by a 
cord wrapped around the parcel, and which was suffered 
to remain until the carret acquired the necessary dry- 
ness and solidity, when, together with the surrounding 
cloth, it was removed, and strips of linn-bark were bound 
around it at proper distances, in such a manner as to 
secure it from unwrapping and losing its proportions. 

The rope used for this purpose was manufactured by 
the planter, from the inner bark of the linn, or bass- 
wood, then one of the most common trees of the forest. 

One end of the rope was made fast to a post, in front 
of which the operator, seated with the roll of tobacco 

* In 1183, Mr. Wm. Dunbar, writes: "The soil of Natchez is par- 
ticularly favorable for tobacco, and there are overseers there who will 
almost engage to produce you between two and three hogsheads to 
the hand, besides provisions." 



AGRICULTURE. 133 

on Ills knee, and his foot against the post, connected the 
other end with the carret, turning it with his hands 
whilst the necessary tension was maintained upon the 
ro|)e, wrapped it securely and evenly from end to end. 

In those days, when the roads were indifferent, and 
wagons and carts were few, the tobacco hogsheads were 
frequently geared to a horse by means of a pair of rude 
temporary shafts, connected with the heading, and in 
this manner rolled to the shipping point, or to market 
at Natchez; much being transported in this way from 
the settlements on Cole's Creek, and from greater dis- 
tances. 

To convey the tobacco to market in New Orleans, it 
was usual for several planters to unite and build a flat- 
boat, with which one of the number would accompany 
the joint adventure, deliver the tobacco at the pub- 
lic warehouse, and, if it passed inspection, receive the 
proceeds, and return home by land, generally on foot; 
the payment being made in a written acknowledgment, 
or hon, as it was called, which entitled the holder to re- 
ceive the amount from the governor or commandant at 
Natchez, thus obviating the labor and risk of packing 
the specie several hundred miles. 

The monopoly of the tobacco trade was retained by 
the King of Spain, and the price paid for all that passed 
inspection at his warehouses was uniform. 

The price was regarded as liberal, and yielded a fair 
return for its production, whilst the stability and cer- 
tainty of a market encouraged an increased cultivation ; 
the country began to prosper, and the planters were en- 
abled to make purchases of slaves, the current price of 
wdiich averaged about three hundred and fifty dollars. 

There was no classification in the sale of the tobacco. 
If the article passed inspection, it was taken, and the 



134 AGRICULTURE. 

quality was generally such that for that cause it could 
not be rejected. NeverthelesSj it sometimes happened 
that an unobjectionable article was left upon the planter's 
hands, if, from ignorance of established iisage, he had 
omitted the customary douceur to the inspector. 

This, however, soon came to be better understood. 
The capacious pockets of the inspector were not worn 
without a purpose, and the expected purse was habitu- 
ally dropped into it without at all shocking the moral 
sense of the wearer. 

It was not necessary, or perhaps altogether proper, 
to couple the offering with expressed conditions; that, if 
not indelicate, would have been quite superfluous, it be- 
ing quite safe and effectual to make the silent contribu- 
tion. Nor was any particular secrecy or concealment 
at all necessary. This was not considered bribery; the 
king always paid his servants indifferently, and these 
were but the perquisites of office which indemnified the 
needy official for his poorly requited services. 

Whether these usages, reacting upon the producers, 
had any effect upon the quality or condition of the 
tobacco in the end, is not, perhaps, altogether clear; but 
it is certain that, from some cause, either from fraud in 
packing, the falling off in quality, or from the com- 
petition of the Kentucky tobacco introduced into New 
Orleans, under General Wilkinson's contracts with the 
Spanish authorities, or by their connivance, the price was 
so reduced, that the further cultivation of it in Missis- 
sippi, for exportation, was in a few years wholly aban- 
doned, greatly to the injury and embarrassment of the 
planters, who had, for the purchase of slaves, contracted 
debts which they now found it difficult to discharge. 



AGEICULTUEE. 135 



THE CULTIYATION AND PREPARATION OF INDIGO. 

The tobacco crop being no longer profitable, indigo, 
which had been cultivated for some time in Louisiana, 
was now resorted to.* This most offensive and unwhole- 
some pursuit was nevertheless the most profitable one 
in which the planter could engage. Seed was obtained 
at the cost of about fifty dollars per barrel, and some 
of the small farmers engaged in cultivating the indigo 
exclusively for the seed to supply those whose larger 
means enabled them to erect the necessary fixtures, and 
to prosecute the cultivation and manufacture on a profit- 
able scale. 

Indigofera tinctoria, from which the indigo pigment of 
commerce is prepared, said to have been introduced from 
India, flourishes luxuriantly in the Southern States, 
where a variety termed the Atramentum anil is said 
to grow spontaneously. It was cultivated in drills, and 
required careful handling when young and tender, the 
subsequent cultivation being similar to that of the cot- 
ton plant. » 

When mature, in good land, it attained the height of 
about three feet. It was then, previous to going to seed, 
cut with a reap-hook from day to day, tied in bundles 
in quantities suited to the capacity of the steeping-vats, 
to which it was immediately transferred. These vats or 
uncovered reservoirs were constructed in pairs above 
ground, of thick plank dovetailed together in such a 

* Indigo liad not been cultivated in the Natchez District as late as 
1183, and until after the failure of the tobacco business it was produced 
only for the seed, which was supplied to the Point Coupee and other 
settlements on the Mississippi. 



136 AGKICULTURE. 

manner as to be perfectly water-tight ; tlie larger one, 
or steeping-vat, so elevated as to permit the draining off 
of the liquid into the smaller, or beater, in which it 
is churned or agitated. 

This vat was usually about four feet deep, eight feet 
wide, and about fifteen feet in length. Two or three 
pairs of these vats were sufficient for the largest indigo 
establishments in the country. One pair ordinarily 
sufficed. 

The vats were placed near a pond of clear soft water 
(spring or hard water would not answer), and the 
shallower the ponds, and the greater the surface of 
water exposed to the sun, the better. 

Into the steeping-vat the indigo weed, as cut, was 
thrown, and the water pumped on to it. The steeping 
generally required a day ; but this depended in a great 
degree upon the temperature of the weather during the 
process and that of the water used. 

When the steeping was carried to the proper point, 
and the fermentation suffered to continue until all the 
coloring matter or grain was extracted, which was ascer- 
tained by examining the liquid in a silver cup, the 
turbid liquid was drawn off into the beater. 

If drawn off prematurely, a loss in the coloring matter 
was sustained, and if deferred too long, putrefactive fer- 
mentation ensued, which injured the quality of the dye. 

Attached to a shaft, revolving across the smaller vat, 
was a set of arms or paddles, by which the liquid was 
churned or agitated. In small establishments, the shaft 
or beater was turned by hand, but generally horse- 
power was connected with it. 

The beating or churning process was continued for 
several hours, during which the precipitation was aided 
by adding a small quantity of lime. Other substances 



AGRICULTURE. 137 

were often substituted, however, some using a mucilage 
obtained from the ocra plant, the sassafras, or from a 
plant known as the moave. 

The grain or coloring matter being separated, as ascer- 
tained by test with the silver cup, flakes of the pigment 
being seen spreading or settling on the bottom, it was 
suffered to subside, and the supernatant liquid was 
drawn off through a series of holes descending towards 
the bottom. The indigo deposit was then removed by 
wooden shovels from the vat into draining-boxes lined 
with canvas, and placed upon beds of sand, afterwards 
tranferred to moulds lined in like manner, dried in the 
shade, and cut into cubes. 

After undergoing a further curing by being laid on 
smooth plank shelves, where it underwent a sweat, it 
was packed in boxes for exportation. 

A variety of a delicate light blue color was called 
"floton;" but that termed the "pigeon neck," from its 
prismatic colors, was most esteemed. 

The price obtained for the best quality is variously 
represented, some affirming that it was from one and a 
half to two dollars per pound. 

A second cutting of the suckers or sprouts was ob- 
tained, but the indigo produced from it was of inferior 
quality. 

About one hundred and fifty pounds of indigo are said 
to have been produced to the hand. 

The whole process was of the most disgusting and dis- 
agreeable character. Myriads of flies were generated by 
it, which overspread the whole country. The plant 
itself, when growing, was infested by swarms of grass- 
hoppers, by which it was sometimes totally destroyed, 
and the fetor arising from the putrid weed thrown from 
the vats was intolerable. The drainings from these 



138 AGRICULTURE. 

refuse accumulations into the adjacent streams killed 
the fish. Those in Second Creek, previously abounding 
in trout and perch, it is said were destroyed in this way. 
It is not surprising, therefore, that the cultivation of 
indigo was abandoned in a few years, and gave way to 
that of cotton, so remarkable for its freedom from the 
disagreeable concomitants of tobacco and indigo culture, 
and comparatively so light, neat, and agreeable in its 
handling. 



THE COTTON PLANT, ITS ORIGIN AND YARIETIES, 
AND ITS ENEMIES AND DISEASES. 

The cotton plant, to which the generic term Gossypium 
has been applied by botanists, is of the order Pol^^andria, 
belonging to the Monadelphia class of plants.* 

Although comparatively of recent introduction here, 
the cotton plant was known in the earliest ages in the 
Old World. 

Herodotus describes the plant as " producing in the 
Indies a wool of finer and better quality than that of 
sheep." 

Pliny mentions certain "wool-bearing trees which 
were known in Upper Egypt, bearing a fruit like a gourd 
of the size of a quince, which, bursting when ripe, dis- 
plays a ball of downy wool from which are made costly 
garments resembling linen." 

At the commencement of the Christian era, it had 
become an article of commerce in the ports of the Red 
Sea; and the remote provinces of India had at that early 
period acquired a celebrity for their cotton fabrics. 

* See Plates III. and IV. 



AGRICULTURE. 139 

The popular name Cotton, from the ItaUan Cotone, is 
said to be derived from its resemblance to the down 
which adheres to the quince, termed by the Italians 
Cotogni. 

Many varieties of the plant are described, and among 
them the perennial or tree cotton, which grows sponta- 
neously in Brazil and Peru. The annual herbaceous 
varieties, only, are those cultivated in the United States. 

The average height of the plant in land of medium 
quality, is about five feet. In a very fertile soil, it at- 
tains to double that height, whilst in one exhausted and 
sterile it becomes quite a dwarf. 

Its appearance somewhat resembles that of the ocra 
plant, but is much more branched, and the leaves less 
in size and of more uniform shape. 

The branches are long and jointed, occasionally bifur- 
cated, and bearing at each joint a boll or capsule con- 
taining the wool and seed. Each boll is accompanied 
by a broad indented leaf, springing from the same joint 
of the branch, resting upon a footstalk three or four 
inches in length. 

The woody fibre of the plant is white, spongy, and 
brittle, but is invested in a thick, brown epidermis, which 
is very pliant and tenacious. 

The root is tuberous, penetrating deeply into the sub- 
soil, and is thus less afl'ected by drought than most other 
plants. 

The blossom is cup-shaped, two or three inches in 
length, never very widely expanded, white on the first 
day until past noon, then changing gradually to a red — 
closing, gradually, for the next day or two, with a twist 
at the extremity over the germ of the young boll, by 
which it is speedily detached in its rapid growth, when 
it withers and is cast off", leaving the boll invested by a 



140 AGRICULTURE. 

capacious tripartite, dentate caljx, sufficiently large to 
inclose it until half grown. 

The calyx containing the germ of the flower is trian- 
gular in shape, and is technically known as the square, 
or form. In this stage of growth, these are liable to 
be disjointed and fall, from the long prevalence of 
drought; but more so when a rainy season suddenly suc- 
ceeds, occasioning a second growth from the rapid elabo- 
ration of sap, which in its circulation seems not to enter 
into the footstalk as freely as into other parts of the 
plant. 

The flower of the Sea Island cotton is, in its first 
stage, of a bright sulphur color, the boll small, trilobate, 
and more elongated, whilst the other varieties produce 
bolls of larger size, which open or divide into four and 
occasionally into five valves or cells. 

The cotton plant commences flowering about the first 
of June, and ceases about the first of November, when 
the plant is killed by the frost. 

The bolls are egg-shaped, rather under the size of the 
egg of the domestic fowl, pointed at the extremity, ex- 
panding widely when fully mature, exhibiting a brown 
tough, woody, membranous seed-vessel, somewhat horny 
in texture, to which the expanded locks of fibre or lint 
adhere. 

The culture of cotton was introduced into China about 
the thirteenth century, and has extended largely ; and the 
Nankin variety especially, produced there, has acquired 
a wide notoriety, forming a distinct fabric, which is even 
yet imported to some extent into the United States. 

In England, although among the last countries where 
its manufacture was introduced, it had becom.e well 
established at Manchester as earl}^ as 1640. 

In 1719, it was suggested that the climate of South 




i 



AGRICULTURE. 141 

Carolina was favorable for its production, and the first 
Provincial Congress of that State, in 1775, "recom- 
mended to its people to raise cotton." 

Georgia is said, however, to have taken the lead in its 
cultivation ; yet the first shipment of cotton known was 
in 1784, when eight bags were seized by the custom- 
house officers at Liverpool, it not being credited that even 
the small quantity of two thousand pounds had been 
raised in the United States. Seed was introduced into 
Georgia from Jamaica and Pernambuco in 1786; but the 
cultivation of the Sea Island variety was not established 
until 1789. The Upland, or the Georgia (bowed cotton), 
was successfully introduced about the same time. 

Cotton was doubtless indigenous to America, having 
been found growing wild in Hispaniola and other West 
India Islands when discovered by Columbus ; and at the 
period of the conquest of Mexico by Cortez, the natives 
made "large webs, as delicate and fine as those of 
Holland." Their other cotton fabrics were varied and 
beautiful, and constituted their chief article of dress. 

When and from whence the plant was first introduced 
into Mississippi, is not certainly known, most probably 
by the early French colonists from St. Domingo, which 
was a touching point for the company's ships, and the 
place whence they derived much of their supplies. It 
would seem, indeed, that its cultivation here and in 
Louisiana on a small scale for domestic purposes pre- 
ceded that of Georgia. 

Charlevoix, on his visit to Natchez in 1722, saw the 
cotton plant growing in the garden of Sieur Le Noir, the 
company's clerk. 

Bienville states, in one of his dispatches, dated in 
April, 1735, that the cultivation of cotton proved ad- 
vantageous. 



142 AGRICULTURE. 

It is stated by Major Stoddard to have been culti- 
vated in the colony in 1740; and Judge Martin quotes 
from a dispatch of Governor Vaudreuil, of 1746, to the 
French Minister, in which he mentions cotton among 
the articles received by the boats which came down 
annually from Illinois to New Orleans. This period is 
some thirty years prior to that in which it is claimed to 
have been cultivated in Georgia. 

Among the varieties of the cotton plant may be 
enumerated the Sea Island, the Upland, the Tennessee 
green seed, the Mexican, Pernambuco, Surinam, Deme- 
rara, Egyptian, &c. &c. 

The four first named are those which have been 
chiefly cultivated in Mississippi. 

The Sea Island is confined to a very few plantations on 
our seaboard. It is superior to all others in length and 
fineness of fibre, and is on that account in much request 
on the continent of Europe, for delicate and costly 
fabrics, such as laces, and for intermixture with silk 
goods ', it bears a high price, generally thrice as much 
as the best Uplands ; but, being necessarily prepared for 
market in the roller-gin, at a heavy cost of time and 
labor, and being more difficult to gather, is upon the 
whole not more profitable than the short staple. 

The Upland first cultivated here, difiers from the pre- 
ceding in the color of the blossom, the size and form of 
the boll or capsule, and in the length and fineness of the 
staple. Both have the smooth, black, naked seed. All 
other varieties seem to have a tendency to return to this 
by long-continued cultivation. 

The Tennessee cotton has a seed invested with a thick 
green down, adhering firmly to it. It is diflicult to 
gather, and superseded the latter, or black seed, for a 



AGRICULTURE. 143 

few years, from its freedom from the rot — a disease with 
which the latter became infected. 

They both gave way in time to the Mexican, which is 
now itself chiefly cultivated, or is the basis of all the 
varieties now in favor. 

The superiority of the Mexican consists in its vigor- 
ous growth, the size of the boll and its free expansion 
affording a facility of gathering by which three times 
the quantity can be picked, as was formerly the case. 
The objections to it originally, and these have been in 
a great degree corrected, were the coarseness of the 
staple, and the loss sustained by its falling out, if not 
gathered speedily. Like the Tennessee, the seeds, 
although larger, are coated with a coarse, felt-like down, 
of a dingy white or brown color. 

- The Mexican seed is believed to have been first intro- 
duced by the late Walter Burling, of Natchez. 

It is related by some of our older citizens, who were 
well acquainted with him and the facts, that, when in 
the city of Mexico, where he was sent by General Wilk- 
inson, in 1806, on a mission connected with a threatened 
rupture between the two countries, in relation to our 
western boundary, he dined at the viceroy's table, and 
in the course of conversation on the products of the 
country, he requested permission to import some of the 
Mexican cotton seed — a request which was not granted, 
on the ground that it was forbidden by the Spanish 
government. But the yiceroy, over his wine, sportively 
accorded his free permission to take home with him as 
many Mexican dolls as he might fancy — a permission 
well understood, and which in the same vein was as 
freely accepted. The stuffing of these dolls is understood 
to have been cotton seed. 

Many accidental varieties have been introduced of late 



144 AGRICULTUEE. 

years, originating in a promiscuous cultivation of differ- 
ent kinds, by which the pollen became intermixed, and 
the different qualities assimilated. 

Some new and excellent varieties have thus been pro- 
duced, which have been preserved and further improved 
by a careful and judicious selection of seed in the field. 
These, together with some spurious kinds, which have 
been palmed off upon the planter from time to time, 
have been known by rather whimsical and fantastic 
names, having little or no relation to their distinctive 
character. Many of them have had their day, whilst 
others deservedly maintain the high estimation to which 
their superior qualities entitle them. 

The diseases of the cotton plant are the rust, the rot, 
and the sore shins. 

The first is most probably attributable to the mineral 
properties of the soil, as it is local and partial in its 
effects J and on the spots of ground affected by it, the 
difference of soil is obvious to the eye. The appearance 
of the plant so diseased, suggests the existence of micro- 
scopic fungi, which exhaust, by their parasitic growth, 
the sap of the leaves, and cause them to wither and 
fall. 

The rot, or disease of the boll, has been assigned to 
various causes. The first external indication of its ap- 
proach is the appearance of an almost imperceptible 
puncture on the side, and generally near the base of the 
boll, surrounded by a slight discoloration or change of 
tint, presenting the semblance of a minute spot of grease 
— a character given it in the common conversation of 
planters, in speaking of the disease.* 

The most received opinion, and that best supported is, 

* See Plate VI. 




^■ 





BT.rW<ti)<4drl 



Oii'lttjneljrM.Koscuihrtl 



Cruji.o Lhli h\ LJ' RosonJlui] fl^ 



AGRICULTURE. 145 

that it is occasioned by the larvae of a small beetle or bug, 
which is hatched from the egg deposited in it, in some 
unknown manner, at an early stage of its growth, and 
which, feeding on the succulent and pulpy seed in their 
early stage of formation, produces the disease without 
immediately destroying the boll, which not unfrequently 
is only partially damaged, and continues to grow nearly 
to its mature size, but in the end becoming externally 
black and hard; the decayed state of the interior of the 
boll presenting an analogy to the peach or plum, which, 
though often presenting even a fair and perfect exterior, 
is found, upon opening, to have been long preyed upon 
by the curculio, or peach worm. 

It is certain that the diseased and blackened boll, 
when broken open, often reveals a variety of small in- 
sects, sometimes in the different stages or conditions of 
their metamorphoses. Which of these is the real enemy 
can only be determined by the close and continued ob- 
servation of the practised entomologist. 

This disease made its appearance as early as 1810, 
and prevailed more or less for more than ten years, and 
occasionally to such an extent as almost to cause the 
abandonment of the cotton culture — a contingency pre- 
vented by the introduction of the Tennessee green-seed 
variety, which was exempt from the disease, or much less 
ajBfected by it than the naked black-seed variety first 
cultivated. 

For many years the rot was unheard of; its partial 
and unfrequent occurrence being too inconsiderable to 
create alarm, or occasion any appreciable injury. 

Its reappearance in 1852, and during the late season, 
has, however, on many plantations, been attended with 
considerable damage. 

The remaining disease, popularly known as the sore 
10 



146 AGRICULTURE. 

shin, attacks the plant in its early stage. If not wliolly 
destroyed, the bark of the stem becomes diseased and 
hardened, and the sap vessels dried up or obstructed 
at or near the surface of the ground. The disease is 
most prevalent during the occurrence of the cold nights 
of a wet and backward spring. To this cause it is 
attributed, and may be owing in some degree to the 
plant-louse, a^is 'pauceron, which prevails most in such 
seasons. 

The growth of the young plant so affected is languid 
and slow, and although the damaged epidermis may be 
repaired and overgrown by a new bark, it is question- 
able whether the plant ever becomes as vigorous or pro- 
lific as those that have not sustained this injury. 

The cause of this malady — too early planting — sug- 
gests the proper remedy. 

The casting of the forms or germs of the bolls may 
perhaps also be regarded as a disease attendant on a 
deranged circulation in the plant, owing to an unequal 
and irregular supply of moisture. It is manifested most 
generally upon a sudden transition from a very dry to a 
very wet season, and is consequently so far without 
remedy ; it is, however, doubtless sometimes occasioned 
or aggravated by injudicious cultivation. 

The enemies of the cotton plant, besides those enume- 
rated, are chiefly the caterpillar and boll-worm.* 

The ravages of the chenille or cotton caterpillar 
[Depressaria Gossyinoides) has long been known in other 
countries. It prevailed destructively in South America 
and the West Indies, having been described previous to 
the present century, and is probably coeval with the cul- 
tivation of the cotton plant. In 1788 and 1794, two- 

* See Plate Y. 



^: 



AGRICULTURE. 147 

thirds of the crops in one of the Bahama Islands were 
destroyed by it. 

The remedy first resorted to was the burning of the 
cotton-stalk in which the eggs of the insect were sup- 
posed to be deposited. This seems to have been 
ineffectual; it was certainly so as respects the insect 
that occasions the rot, as, during the whole period of its 
prevalence in this country, the burning of the stalks 
was universal, and no diminution of the disease was 
known to have resulted from the practice. 

The most feasible remedy I can suggest is one I pro- 
posed more than ten years since : it is the destruction of 
the enemy by means of torches at night immediately 
after the perfect immago or moth emerges from its pupa- 
rium or chrysalis state, and flies abroad, it being well 
known that fire-light attracts insects of this class. If 
the hands on a plantation were each provided with a 
lighted torch of pine wood, dried cane, or some similar 
material, and made to pass through the fields at inter- 
vals of five or ten rows apart, shortly after twilight had 
closed, myriads of the moth would perish in the flame, 
each of which would have deposited its hundreds of eggs 
in a few days. 

If this plan was generaTly adopted, and persevered in 
for a few successive nights at the ])ro])er season, its effect 
would doubtless be, if not entirely to destroy, at least to 
diminish to a very beneficial extent these mischievous 
pests. 

The first hatching of the caterpillar in the spring 
could not at first be thus destroyed, or their ravages pre- 
vented ; but the second hrood, if it may be so termed, 
which is generally considered most numerous and de- 
structive, and which furnishes the egg for the supply of 
the ensuing year, would be cut off to a great extent. 



148 AGRICULTURE. 

However this suggestion may be received, it is at 
least as practicable as any of the plans that have been 
proposed for the same object, some of which have been 
promulgated through respectable Agricultural Journals ; 
such as the powdering the leaves of the plant with 
finely pulverized quicklime, or the fumigation of each 
separate plant w^ith sulphurous vapor produced by 
burning brimstone on chafing dishes, each plant being 
inclosed, during the process, in a tight canvas hood, ten 
minutes being considered sufficient time for each plant ! 
If this was at all practicable, one hand, with great 
diligence, might at this rate go over one acre in fifteen 
or tiventy days. 

The caterpillar, which does not usually appear until 
the cotton plant is pretty well matured, feeds chiefly 
upon the leaf, and the degree of damage done depends 
upon the period it commences its depredations; if so 
early that but few bolls are matured, the plant must 
cease to grow when thoroughly stripped of leaf. 

Instances have occurred, but it must be confessed 
very rarely, when the growth of the plant was too 
vigorous, and continued too late in the season, in which 
a partial cropping of the leaves by the worm has had a 
beneficial effect in arresting the growth, and causing the 
bolls to mature and open. If their appearance is de- 
layed until a period immediately preceding a killing 
frost, and during a dry season, a conjuncture not often 
happening, they do a benefit in removing the leaf, 
which, after a frost, stains the cotton and renders it 
very trashy, by crumbling and falling upon it. 

The boll-worm is comparatively small, resembling at 
first the silk-worm in its early stages ; its attacks are 
made within the calyx, and about the base of the boll, 



AGRICULTURE. 149 

•which, it perforates, and when first forming and tender, 
it wholly devours or causes to drop off. 

The insect theory, in connection with the cause of 
the rot, is sustained by the observations of intelligent 
planters made last year. It was remarked that, on 
lands where the different varieties of cotton had been 
planted separately, in alternate rows, for experiment, 
the most tender and succulent varieties, which w^ould 
naturally first invite the attacks of insects, were those 
most damaged, whilst the more hardy and firmly 
wooded remained uninjured. 

The increase of these maladies may probably be 
traced in some measure to the extirpation or disappear- 
ance of birds, owing chiefly to the destruction of our 
forests, leaving them in a degree without protection or 
shelter. 

A beneficent Providence, in the economy of nature, 
designed these little winged scavengers for useful pur- 
poses. To restrain the exuberance of insect life is 
their peculiar office ; and, so long as they are preserved 
and protected, their office is effectually performed. If 
man wantonly, and with mistaken impressions as to the 
extent and character of their depredations, will destroy 
them, he must make his account in submitting to ra- 
vages of a more formidable kind, and which may baffle 
his ingenuity to prevent. 

This lesson has been taught with heavy cost, nowhere 
perhaps more clearly than on the rice plantations, where 
the planters would now gladly woo back the little deni- 
zens of the air, which they have frightened away or 
destroyed. 



150 AGRICULTURE. 



MODE OP PLANTING, CULTIVATING, AND GATHERING THE COTTON CROP. 

There must ever be sonie diversity of practice, in the 
details of all agricultural operations. The character 
and situation of the land, the nature of the soil, the 
variations of the seasons, will influence these more or 
less. The following details, therefore, must be received 
as descriptive of the general practice under the most 
usual combination of circumstances. 

We will suppose that the land has been previously 
cultivated in cotton, and has been already laid off and 
circled according to the undulations of the surface, at 
distances suited to the quality and capacity of the soil. 
The cotton stalk of the previous year having become 
sufficiently decayed and brittle, is first beaten down and 
broken to pieces, and left strewn upon the ground. This 
is done by the women and the younger hands, provided 
with stout sticks or clubs suited to the purpose. 

Between the rows of the previous year, a furrow is 
now run, with a bar-shear plough without a coulter, and 
two other furrows are lapped upon it. In this state, it 
remains until all the ground is gone over, and the sea- 
son for planting approaches. Two or more furrows, 
according to the width of the row, are then thrown up 
on both sides to the previous ridge, and the middles are 
thus broken up. 

So far, the work has been done with large two-horse 
ploughs suited to breaking up the hard ground. In the 
subsequent cultivation, a lighter one-horse plough is 
used. Over the bed or ridge thus formed, if the rough 
and lumpy condition of the ground requires it, an iron 
toothed harrow is drawn, and the ridge is split or opened 
by a small plough, or more usually by a lighter imple- 



AGRICULTURE. 151 

ment contrived for the purpose, and consisting of a 
suitably fashioned block preceded by a coulter. 

In the furrow made by the opener, the cotton seed 
are sown by the women from a quantity carried in the 
apron, gathered together at the lower end, and held by 
the left hand so as to form a sack which is replenished 
from time to time from piles of seed previously deposited 
in the field at convenient distances. The sowing is done 
adroitly at a brisk pace by a vertical or downward move- 
ment of the arm, by which the seed are strewn along 
the row several feet at each cast of the hand, and with 
the requisite regularity. A light harrow follows, to the 
hinder part of which is frequently attached a small 
roller, which smooths down and compresses the loose soil 
over the seed. 

When the cotton has come up, and grown to the 
height of a few inches, in a week or ten days it begins 
to require thinning out and scraping. This was formerly 
done almost entirely by the hoe, by which the grass and 
cotton on the sides of the ridge were scraped away, and 
the cotton blocked out in the row by cutting it out to the 
width of the hoe or about twelve or fourteen inches. It 
is now performed by first running a bar-shear plough 
lightly on each side of the row, and harriyig off, as it 
is called, and throwing, the dirt from the plant. The 
process also is greatly facilitated by the use of a properly 
constructed scraper, an implement of modern and not 
yet of universal, if of general use, which acts well, and 
saves a great amount of labor to the hoe hands. 

It is desirable to follow this operation with as little 
delay as practicable, the ploughs on this occasion giving 
an inverted direction to the soil, and throwing it back 
to the plant with the mould-board — a process which is 
termed dirting or moulding the cotton. The hoes follow 



152 AGRICULTURE. 

immediately, tliin out to a stand, leaving one or two of 
the most vigorous and promising plants, freeing them 
from grass, and drawing the loose soil well around them 
for their better support. 

If the planter has accomplished this much of his work 
tliorouglily, and in good season, his crop may generally 
be accounted safe. 

The after cultivation is varied according to the nature 
of the season ; and the plough, hoe-harrow, or the sweep 
will be used as they may be found best adapted to the 
condition of the crop. 

The latter implement is, like the scraper, of modern 
introduction. It resembles one of the hoes of a harrow 
flanked with wide-cutting blades, or wings, forming two 
sides of a triangle ; and mounted on a plough-beam, is 
capable of sweeping the whole width of the row, or the 
greater part of it at once, loosening the soil and destroy- 
ing weeds, vines, and everything that does not require 
to be turned under and effectually buried. It is a very 
efficient tool, and is employed with advantage, and 
especially in dry seasons, in keeping under the tie vine 
(convolvulus, or morning-glory), which, if not thoroughly 
done, is an after source of great annoyance and damage. 
This course of cultivation supposes the planter to have 
kept pace with the regular order of his work j but if, 
from a backward season and late frosts, he is compelled 
to replant, or if, from an unusual prevalence of rains, he 
is unable to run his ploughs, or, from the same cause, to 
scrape out his cotton in proper time, and consequently 
gets into the grass, he has necessarily to adopt such 
expedients as the emergency requires j and sometimes it 
is necessary to throw out of cultivation or abandon a 
part of the crop to save the balance. 

The first of April is early enough to commence the 



AGRICULTURE. ' 153 

planting of cotton, which is continued to the middle of 
May, and occasionally later. The only motive for plant- 
ing in March is to get more forward with the work of 
the plantation, and put in a larger crop ; and this is often 
done at the expense of a bad stand, or having to replant, 
which is apt to retard and derange all the operations of 
the planter. 

Cotton, planted in well-prepared land after the ground 
has become sufficiently warm, comes up sooner, grows 
more rapidly, and is much less liable to be injured by 
the " sore shins," or the plant-louse, than that which has 
been chilled by the cold winds and rains from getting 
above the ground too early in the season. 

The practice of horizontal cultivation, or circling the 
rows, so as to keep them on a level on hilly and rolling 
land, was introduced by the late Mr. William Dunbar, 
of the Forest in Adams County (as Mr. Dunbar is 
known to have stated in conversation in the town of 
Washington, in 1810), at the suggestion of Mr. Jefferson, 
of whom Mr. Dunbar was a correspondent for many 
years, when the former was President of the United 
States. Having observed, when in France, this economi- 
cal manner of cultivating the mountain sides, Mr. Jeffer- 
son recommended it as well adapted to our broken lands. 

The practice was tardily adopted, and, like all similar 
innovations on established usages, met at first with its 
share of ridicule. 

Many planters rely upon the eye alone in circling 
their lands, altering and correcting the rows in subse- 
quent years as the direction of the rain water may show 
to be necessary. 

The most careful and judicious class, however, have 
their fields carefully staked out in the first instance by 



154 AGRICULTURE. 

means of a triangular spirit-level resting on a tripod for 
more convenient adjustment. 

Like type-setting, cotton-picking is and must still 
continue to be performed by the fingers ; but its rate 
has become as accelerated as if some new motive power 
was applied in the process. Fifty years since, fifty 
pounds a day was accounted fair work. Now the chil- 
dren double this ; and two hundred pounds is not unfre- 
quently the average of the whole gang of hands, to say 
nothing of those who pick their four or five hundred 
pounds of cotton (bolls?). 

The cotton is gathered from the bolls in the field in 
sacks, made of Lowell cotton, suspended over the neck 
and shoulder, and from which it is emptied from time to 
time into large baskets made generally of white oak 
splints, and capable of holding about one hundred and 
fifty pounds. 

It is generally weighed at noon and at night, in the 
field, and the baskets emptied into a wagon, hauled to 
the gin yard, and spread upon scaffolds, exposed to the 
sun, to dry. It is there picked over and trashed by the 
invalids, and such of the hands as are suited to this light 
employment. 

When a long-continued drought prevails, after the 
frosts have checked the further growth, and the cotton 
becomes very dry in the field, it is not necessary to put 
it upon the scaffolds. If put up in bulk a little damp, 
it undergoes a heat by which the essential oil of the 
seed is discharged, imparting to the fibre a creamy color, 
highly prized by some purchasers, and which sometimes 
efiects a good sale of a really inferior article. 

This is rather a dangerous experiment, however, to 
make on a large scale ; for, if the heat rises too high, 



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AGRICULTURE. 155 

putrefaction and mildew will supervene, and serious 
damage will result. 

In an average of ten years, in which observations 
have been recorded, the first cotton blooms made their 
appearance about the first of June, and the plant was 
killed by frost about the first of November. 

WHITNEY'S GIN — ^INVENTION AND INTRODUCTION OE MACHINERY. 

The implements and machinery used for the prepara- 
tion of cotton for market were, in the first instance, of 
the most simple and primitive kind. Next to the 
separation of the seed from the fibre by the fingers, the 
small roller gin was used. It was ordinarily attached to 
the middle of a common rude bench supported on legs 
inserted in auger holes (Plate VII. Fig. 1) . Astride of 
this, two boys, seated face to face, operated each by 
turning a crank, one feeding the rollers with the seed 
cotton, the other freeing them from the lint on the oppo- 
site side, as it was drawn through, leaving the seed 
behind. 

The rollers were less than an inch in diameter, and 
about eight inches long, revolving of course in opposite 
directions, but in close contact. 

The next step, in advance, was a modification of this 
gin, by which the rollers were rotated by means of a 
treadle worked by the foot, leaving both hands of the 
operator free to attend upon the rollers; by which 
means one person was enabled to manage a single stand. 
This description of gin was in use in the West Indies in 
1764 (see Plate YIII. and Fig. 2, Plate VII.). 

Iron in the minutest particle did not necessarily enter 
into the construction of these gins, nor is it believed to 
be indispensahle to this day in their improved forms. 



156 AGRICULTURE. 

No additional power or efficiency can be attained by 
the enlargement or lengthening of the rollers, and it is 
only by multiplying the stands or pairs of rollers, each 
requiring its attendants, but simultaneously put in mo- 
tion by some efficient power acting upon the whole, that 
they have been rendered at all adequate to the demands 
of even moderate plantations. 

The adaptation of these stands to a common power, by 
means of an extended cylinder or drum with which they 
were connected by bands is attributed to Mr. Longstreet, 
a merchant of Augusta, Georgia, the father of Judge 
Longstreet, the President of the University of Missis- 
si|)pi ; ' and was introduced about 1792. 

The roller gin is only adapted to the Sea Island and 
naked seed varieties of cotton. 

The upland Georgia cotton required the preparatory 
process of howing, in the manner that hatters prepare 
their felt. Hence the hoioecl cotton, formerly known in 
commerce. 

Short as the rollers are, with the accelerated velocity 
given by the combined machinery and horse power, they 
are very liable to become sprung, and to admit the seed 
or any foreign substance that may be in the cotton. 

A single seed so taken in will instantly scorch a 
notch in the rollers, and render them unfit for further 
use. Great pains is therefore required in picking over 
the cotton and rendering it perfectly clean before gin- 
ning. 

The liability of igniting the lint or fibre by friction 
from this cause renders it necessary to employ the most 
cautious and expert hands in attendance upon the rollers, 
and to keep vessels of water constantly at hand to guard 
against such casualties. 



AGRICULTURE. 157 

New rollers have to be supplied, and it is estimated 
that two or three pair are daily required on an average 
to each stand, and one hand is kept constantly employed 
at the lathe to furnish the necessary supply. 

Perhaps half a bag can be ginned per day with five 
pair of rollers under favorable circumstances; but the 
process is greatly retarded in damp or wet weather. 

Such, until the introduction of Whitney's invention, 
were the miniature gins in use. The small hand gins 
were to be seen in nearly every planter's house, and, 
indeed, for many years after, were often met with on the 
small farms in the interior, where cotton was only raised 
for home consumption. 

It will readily be imagined that with such means of 
preparing it, the culture of cotton in Mississippi was 
restricted to a very small space., A mere spot of ground 
sufficed for all that was required for domestic purposes, 
or which the grower could in a reasonable time free from 
the seed. 

The long staple or Sea Island cotton had not been 
introduced into Mississippi ; and it does not appear, from 
the most diligent inquiry, that more than a single small 
lot of only three bales, or rather round bags, was ex- 
ported from the country previous to the introduction of 
the saw gin. 

This was produced by Mr. William Yousdan, near the 
site of the ancient Whiteapple Village on Second Creek. 

To prepare it for the roller gin, it was kiln-dried in 
the seed on latticed scaffolds, formed of cane, under 
which fires were placed. 

The dawn of a new era in the agriculture of the coun- 
try was, however, at hand, and was ushered in by the 
introduction of Whitney's gin — an invention in ma- 
chinery which has not only added to the wealth of our 



158 AGRICULTURE. 

nation, but extended the manufactures and commerce of 
the world in a degree without example in its history. 

Eli Whitney was born in Massachusetts in 1765, 
graduated at Yale College in 1792, and went shortly 
after to Georgia, to assume the duties of a private tutor. 
Being disappointed in this expectation, he became an 
inmate in the family of the widow of General Green, and 
commenced the study of law under her hospitable roof. 

Among other acts done in requital of the hospitality 
and kindness of his obliging hostess, Mr. Whitney had 
presented her with a tambour frame, made on a plan 
entirely new, and of his own construction. 

This and the various toys he had made for her child- 
ren, acquired for him the reputation of great ingenuity 
and mechanical skill, and caused the invention of a ma- 
chine for the separation^of the lint or fibre of the cotton 
from the seed, to be suggested to him by some gentle- 
men, visitors of his hostess, to whom she had consider- 
ately introduced him. 

Although not seriously proposed, or with the expecta- 
tion that the suggestion would be acted upon, a direction 
was given to Whitney's views, which neither his kind 
patroness nor her friends dreamed of. 

His active and inventive mind was stimulated to 
action by the great importance of such a discovery, and 
he determined to grapple with the task, sensible of the 
vast benefits that must ensue from the successful accom- 
plishment of the undertaking. 

Never having seen in his life the cotton or cotton 
seed, with some difficulty, by visiting Savannah, he pro- 
cured a small quantity, which he brought with him, and 
acquainted his friend, Mr. Phineas Miller, with his in- 
tentions, in which he was warmly encouraged, and an 



AGRICULTURE. 159 

apartment was assigned him in the basement of the 
house for a workshop. 

Here, with such rude tools and materials as a Georgia 
plantation then afforded, he went to work, and near the 
close of the winter had progressed so far as to render 
his success certain. 

When the machine was erected, Mrs. Green invited to 
her house a number of planters from dijQferent parts of 
the State, to witness its operation ; " and they saw with 
astonishment and delight that more cotton could be 
separated from the seed in one day, by the labor of a 
single hand, than could be done in the usual manner in 
the space of many months."* 

It is not my purpose here to write the biography of 
Mr. Whitney. That has already been ably done by 
Professor Olmsted of Yale College. But it is of some 
interest to preserve the history of an invention to which 
the people of our State owe all their prosperity. 

In order to gratify the curiosity which every cotton 
planter must naturally feel on the subject, I have been 
at some pains to inform myself on the subject, and have 
had the rare opportunity of examining critically, in all 
its parts, an early model of the gin on a small scale 
constructed under Mr. Whitney's direction, and which 
is now exhibited in the Crystal Palace, in New York. 

I have also seen a working-stand made in 1807, to 
serve as a model, under a contract between Mr.- Whit- 
ney and the State of South Carolina.^ This latter stand 
has recently been used as evidence in a suit in relation 
to infringement of patent between two gin builders, and 

* Professor Olmsted. 

f Plate YII. Fig. 3. c the cylinder, b tlie brush, A the breastwork, 
H the hopper, and G G the grate. 



160 AGRICULTURE. 

was identified as the original gin stand of Whitney by 
the oath of one of his early workmen. 

The model shows the progress of the invention as 
elaborated in the ingenious mind of its author; and his 
first idea seems to have been that of carding the lint or 
fibre from the seed, rather than that suggested by the 
use of the saw. 

The cylinder in the model is divided into three parts; 
one-third of it at the left end is armed with stout crooked 
wires driven in, flattened at the sides, and the ends 
brought to an edge, as shown in Plate VII. Fig. 4. (The 
middle third of the cylinder is provided with a similar 
arrangement of wires, not flattened as in the first, but 
pointed, as in Fig. 5.) And the remainder of the cylinder 
is mounted with the circular saw rags, similar to those 
now in use. 

Figure 3, of Plate VII. exhibits an end view of the 
stand, showing the position of the cylinder and brush, 
or clearer, as it was then termed in the specification of 
the patent, for which the reader is referred to Appendix 
G. 

The gin stand made for South Carolina in 1807, con- 
sists of a frame supporting an iron form, upon which the 
saw cylinder and brush are hung. 

An end view of the machine shows the mode of boxing 
the journals and retaining them in place. The seed- 
board of the hopper is connected with the upper part by 
hinges, and may be placed at any required distance from 
the saws. The back of the hopper descends nearly to 
the saws just behind the grating, and the rear branch of 
the grating makes the bottom of the moting trough ; it 
also contains a movable false bottom of tin, which catches 
the motes. 

The cylinder contains forty saws, six and three-fourth 



AGRICULTURE. 161 

inclies in diameterj each having one hundred and six 
teeth ; they are separated at distances of three-fourths of 
an inch by block tin or pewter castings. 

" The seven-inch cylinder brush has six wings, each 
extending from one inch below to two inches above the 
surface, where they receive oblique tufts of bristles. 
The wings of the brush extend beyond the heads, and 
form what are called projecting Jags. 

" The machine has a large opening against the ends of 
the brush to admit the air freely to these lags, and thus 
prevent the cotton from winding upon the axis of the 
brush ; the mote-board is made of slats two or three 
inches wide. 

" The hopper, moting-trough, &c., form one part of the 
gin ; and the top and ceiling, back of the openings, are 
each hung upon the upper bar of the iron form, and may 
be turned back at pleasure." 

The experiments, made in the presence of the gentle- 
men assembled at the house of Mrs. Green, to witness 
the operation of the machine, as before stated, proving 
so satisfactory, no further doubt of the utility of the 
invention was entertained. 

A partnership was entered into with Mr. Phineas 
Miller, who, like Whitney, had come out from New 
England to Georgia as a private tutor, and resided in 
the family of General Green, with whose widow he sub- 
sequently intermarried. 

Mr. Miller in this manner had become possessed of 
the requisite funds for carrying on the business of the 
concern, which was, from May, 1793, conducted in the 
name of Miller & Whitney. 

A patent was procured on the 14th of March, 1794, 
and Mr. Whitney established himself at New Haven, for 
the purpose of perfecting his invention and of availing. 
11 



162 AGRICULTURE. 

himself of greater facilities for manufacturing the stands, 
which were to be shipped to Georgia to supply the 
anticipated demand. 

"An invention so important to the agricultural in- 
terest (and, as it has proved, to every department of 
human industry) could not long remain a secret. The 
knowledge of it soon spread through the State, and so 
great was the excitement on the subject that multitudes 
of persons came from all quarters of the State to see the 
machine; but it was not deemed safe to gratify their 
curiosity until the patent right had been secured. But 
so determined were some of the populace to possess this 
treasure, that neither law nor justice could restrain them 
— they broke open the building by night, and carried off 
the machine. In this way, the public became possessed 
of the invention; and before Mr. Whitney could com- 
plete his model, and secure his patent, a number of 
machines were in successful operation, constructed with 
some slight deviation from the original, with the hope of 
evading the penalty for violating the patent right."* 

The following account of the invention, and of the 
performance of the first machines manufactured, is given 
in a letter written in November, 1793, by Mr. Whitney, 
in answer to one received from Mr. Jefferson, who took 
much interest in the invention, and sought information 
respecting it : — 

" It is about a year since I first turned my attention 
to constructing this machine, at which time I was in the 
State of Georgia. 

" Within about ten days of my first conception of the 
plan, I made a small though imperfect model. 

" Experiments with this encouraged me to make one on 

* Olmsted's Biography of Whitney. 



AGRICULTURE. 163 

a larger scale ; but the extreme difficulty of procuring 
workmen and the proper materials in Georgia, prevented 
my completing the larger one until some time in April 
last. This, though much larger than my first attempt, 
is not above one-third as large as machines may be made 
with convenience. The cylinder is only two feet two 
indies in length, and six inches in diameter. It is turned 
hy hand, and requires the strength of one man to keep it 
in constant motion. 

" It is the stated task of one negro to clean fifty weight 
(I mean fifty pounds after it is separated from the seed) 
of the green seed cotton per day." 

The biographer of Mr. Whitney thus alludes to the 
unfortunate and mistaken scheme of Mr. Whitney and 
his partner at the outset of their business, which was to 
erect the machinery in different sections of the cotton 
region, and to engross the whole business of ginning 
themselves, the profits of which were very tempting, 
being no less than every third pound taken for toll. 

" This did not at once supply the demands of the cotton 
growers, and it multiplied the inducements to make the 
machines in violation of the patent. Had the proprie- 
tors confined their views to the manufacture of the 
machines, and to the sale of patent rights, it is probable 
that they would have avoided some of the difficulties 
with which they had afterwards to contend." 

In 1796, Miller and Whitney had thirty gins in 
operation at different places in Georgia, either by horse 
or water-power. 

The consequence was that their patent was infringed, 
and they became involved from the outset in a series of 
expensive lawsuits to protect their rights; and it was 
nearly thirteen years, when their patent had nearly 



164 AGRICULTURE. 

expired, before tliey succeeded in obtaining a verdict in 
their favor. 

In the mean time, they were subjected to a series of 
the most disheartening losses and embarrassments. 

It has been stated that Whitney did not at first use 
the circular saw plates in his machines, although subse- 
quently it was satisfactorily proved in one of his suits 
that the idea of such teeth had early occurred to him. 

The application of this form or description of the gin 
rag was first made by Hodgin Holmes, of Georgia, who 
obtained a patent for it in May, 1796. 

It is related in Georgia that this form, of tooth was 
first accidentally suggested by sawing through a board 
partition with a common handsaw into a room partially 
filled with seed cotton, into which the saw penetrated, 
and was observed to draw a portion of the fibre through 
attached to the teeth. 

A gang of saws working vertically through grates was 
tried, but no means could be devised for detaching the 
lint or fibre. The saws were therefore worthless for the 
purpose except in connection with the cylinders of 
Whitney's machine ; they were essentially a part of his 
invention. 

In the celebrated decision made by Judge Johnson, in 
December, 1807, the Judge thus disposes of Mr. Holmes's 
pretensions. 

'^ A Mr. Holmes has cut teeth in plates of iron and 
passed them over the cylinder. This is certainly a 
meritorious improvement in the mechanical process of 
constructing this machine. But at last, what does it 
amount to, except a more convenient mode of making 
the same thing? Every characteristic of Mr. Whitney's 
machine is preserved. The cylinder, the iron tooth, the 
rotary motion of the tooth, the breastwork and brush. 



AGRICULTURE. 165 

and all the merit which this discovery can assume, is 
that of a more expeditious mode of attaching the tooth 
to the cylinder." 

Of the merit of the invention, Judge Johnson, at that 
early day, in the same opinion, uses the following em- 
phatic language : — 

"We cannot express the weight of the obligation 
which the country owes to this invention. The extent 
of it cannot now be seen. Some faint presentiment may 
be formed from the reflection that cotton is rapidly sup- 
planting wool, flax, silk, and even furs in manufactures, 
and may one day profitably supply the use of specie in 
our East India trade. Our sister States also participate 
in the benefits of this invention ; for, besides affording 
the raw material for their manufacturers, the bulkiness 
and quantity of the article afford a valuable employ- 
ment for their shipping." 

By the introduction of this gin the value of the cotton 
crop of the United States was increased, in the short 
period of ten years, from about one hundred and fifty 
thousand dollars to at least eight millions. And what 
estimate shall we place upon the value of the invention 
when we view the present production of cotton ? 

Constituting considerably more than half the value of 
the whole domestic exports of the United States, it has 
become so identified with the wants of mankind ; is so 
essential to the industry and capital of the world, that 
to withhold the produce of a single crop from our princi- 
pal customer, Great Britain, would involve her manufac- 
tories in ruin, reduce her operatives to pauperism, and 
seriously derange all her commercial interests and rela- 
tions.* 

* The lives of nearly two millions of our countrymen are dependent 
upon the cotton crops of America ; their destiny may be said, without 



166 AGRICULTURE. 

With what ingratitude has this great benefactor of his 
country and the world been treated? Millions would 
not adequately have rewarded him for his great boon ; 
and yet the very name of Whitney has almost ceased to 
be used in connection with the machine of his invention, 
w^iich is now known familiarly by those of the present 
manufacturers, and who at most can only claim some 
slight modification or improvement upon the original. 
Thus, we have Carver's gins; Bates and Hyde's, At- 
wood's, Parkhurst's, Taylor's, and numerous others, 
known only in the neighborhood in which they are made. 

It is true that Mr. Whitney was not wholly uncom- 
pensated. The State of South Carolina made Miller and 
Whitney a grant of fifty thousand dollars, payable in 
four instalments. The State of North Carolina, in 1802, 
levied a tax on each saw employed, for the term of five 
years, for their benefit, and the following year Tennessee 
did the same for the period of four years. 

Both South Carolina and Tennessee suspended the 
payment of the stipulated sums for some years. North 
Carolina, however, was true to her engagement. 

In Georgia, although the patent was generally in- 
vaded, there were some who respected the invention, 
and purchased the right of using it. 

One of the instruments by which this privilege was 
conveyed having, by rare chance, been preserved in the 
family of the writer, is given in the Appendix (see H.). 
as a document of curious interest, and as serving to show 

any sort of hyperbole, to hang upon a thread! Should any dire cala- 
mity befall the land of cotton, a thousand of our merchant ships would 
rot idly in dock, ten thousand mills must stop their busy looms, and 
two million mouths would starve for lack of food to feed them. 

Dickens. 



AGRICULTURE. 167 

the exact date both of the invention and the patent, and 
the terms on which its use was accorded. 

Whitney's gin was introduced into Georgia in 1794. 

In the following year, it came in use in Mississippi, 
so speedily was its value made known through the 
whole cotton region. 

In 1795, Daniel Clarke, living then near Fort Adams, 
in Wilkinson County, had one constructed almost entirely 
by a Negro mechanic owned by him, chiefly from a rude 
drawing and an imperfect description obtained from a 
traveller who had seen Whitney's gin in Georgia. 

It is known that several gins were in operation in 
Adams county previous to the evacuation of the country 
by the Spaniards.* 

In 1798, cotton was shipped from a gin of Thomas 
Wilkins, on Pine Ridge, near Natchez j it was then put 
up in round bags. This, next to Clark's gin, on his 
plantation near Fort Adams, was probably the earliest 
construction, and must, at the time referred to, have been 
in operation about two years. 

In the then condition of the country, and in the ab- 
sence of mechanical skill, the first machinery employed 
was, of course, rude and imperfect ; and it is said that 
the first rags or saws manufactured were hammered out 
of hoe-blades, and had only two or three teeth to the 
inch. Well-made and tempered saws were worth five 
dollars each, separate from the other machinery. The 
price of gin stands is now about three dollars and a half 
per saw. The improvement in machinery having ob- 
viated the old, tedious, and expensive process, the seg- 

* Mr. Dunbar mentions being from home for the purpose of in- 
specting a cotton gin in September, 1195; and states that, in 1191, 
cotton had become the " universal crop" of the District of Natchez. 



168 AGRICULTURE. 

ments of the saw are now made at a single cut, and 
afterwards the teeth are cut on them very accurately 
and expeditiously, by a machine nicely adapted to the 
purpose. 

David Greenleaf became one of the earliest, if not 
the first ginwright in the country, and was unquestiona- 
bly the most skilful of his day. He settled here pre- 
vious to 1795, and soon after was known to have seen 
and examined a model of the Whitney gin, at the house 
of Philip Six, near Selserstown. 

Mr. Greenleaf subsequently built a gin in the same 
neighborhood, on his own account, upon the land of 
Richard Curtiss. This was long afterwards known as 
the public gin of Edmund Andrews, and formed one 
point on the boundary line between the counties of 
Adams and Jefferson. 

As an evidence of the skill of some of our early gin- 
wrights, Mr. Dunbar may be quoted. Writing to a 
friend, in May, 1799, he says : "I have reason to think 
the new gin has been much more improved here than 
anywhere else. The latest and best gins cannot injure 
the cotton more than a pair of cards might do." 

Eleazer Carver commenced the business of making 
cotton gins near the town of Washington, in the Missis- 
sippi Territory, in the year 1807. 

" There were then no labor-saving machines in the 
country for making or preparing any parts of a gin. 

*^' Saw-mills had not been introduced to facilitate wood- 
work, nor forges or foundries for the metallic parts of 
the gin. 

" The gin-saws were made either of inferior sheet-iron, 
or forged from the bar by the hands of common black- 
smiths, who had no better implements for finishing them 
than cold-chisels and files ; and the making of the other 



AGRICULTURE. 169 

parts of the machine were attended by corresponding 
inconveniences for the lack of workshops, Lathes, and 
other suitable tools." 

To obviate some of these inconveniences, Mr. Carver 
erected a small saw-mill, about the year 1810, one of the 
first known to him in. the country. 

The business of Mr. Carver in gin-building increasing, 
in order to have the benefit of other facilities, he esta- 
blished himself in Bridgewater, Massachusetts, and has 
continued, up to the present time, either singly or in 
connection with other parties, to manufacture and supply 
gins very extensively to the cotton-planters of the 
southwest. 

One of his principal improvements of the cotton gin 
was in the construction of the grate, to prevent it from 
becoming clogged or choked by the lodging and collect- 
ing of the fibre in the open spaces. This was patented 
in November, 1838, the plan and specification of which 
may be seen in the American Polyteclinic Journal, vol. i. 
p. 382. 

Some of the merchants of Natchez erected public gins 
in and near that city, and at Washington and other points, 
in which the seed cotton was received by weight and 
ginned for one-tenth, calculating it to yield only one- 
fourth of ginned cotton. 

Few planters were then so opulent as to raise cotton 
enough to give employment to a single gin, and those 
who were enabled to erect them received the crops of 
their less favored neighbors at the established rates. 
This was a profitable business, and was the foundation 
of the fortunes of some of the proprietors. 

The cotton culture received such an impulse from the 
introduction of these gins, that they could not keep pace 
with the production. Some of them were kept running 



170 AGRICULTURE. 

unceasingly for several years ; cotton being brought to 
them continually from every quarter. It was frequently 
packed on horses in sacks, from the Homochitto and 
other remote settlements, a distance of twenty or thirty 
miles ; the seed became a nuisance, and the gin holders 
were required to keep them inclosed to prevent the hogs 
of the neighborhood from feeding upon them, which was 
regarded as destructive to the hog. 

Attempts were made to get rid of the seed by burning 
in the heap. No suspicion of their value as an applica- 
tion to the land seems to have been entertained. The 
stalks, also, were universally pulled up and burned on 
the field. 

On the delivery of his crop at the gin, the planter 
received what was termed a cotton receipt. These re- 
ceipts became literally the circulating medium of the 
country, protected by legislative enactment, and were 
recoverable with damages for non-delivery of the cotton 
after a period of forty days, if not otherwise stipulated. 

They were received by merchants in payment of ac- 
counts, or for the purchase of goods, and were also 
readily disposed of at the rate of five dollars per hun- 
dred pounds of seed cotton, thus relieving the planter 
of all further trouble and charge ; the expense of pack- 
ing, hauling, storing, shipping, &c., being borne by the 
purchaser. 

PREPARATION OF COTTON FOR MARIiET, EXPORTATION, AND SALE. 

Many meritorious modifications and improvements 
have from time to time been introduced in the construc- 
tion of the gin. These consist chiefly in the size of the 
cylinder and brush, the construction of the teeth, and 
the form and arrangement of the grates, by which the 



AGRICULTUEE. 171 

efficiency of the machine has been more than quad- 
rupled. 

Gins are now constructed to run from forty to eighty 
saws; the sixty-saw gin is, however, most generally 
used, and is capable of turning out a daily average of 
three or four bales of clean cotton. 

The cotton gin, in the form now used, is composed of 
a stand of about six feet in width, inclosing a cylinder 
and brush, arranged horizontally, and running on iron 
axes in composition metallic boxes. On the cylinder are 
arranged a series of circular saws, or rags, as they are 
familiarly termed, made of best cast-steel plates, in seg- 
ments, or two parts. They are placed about one inch 
apart, and are so stayed and secured to the cyliuder as 
to insure a perfect accuracy and uniformity of action. 

The teeth are very pointed and oblique, and are very 
carefully and smoothly dressed. 

The cylinder, when put in motion by a band running 
on a trundle-head attached to it on one side of the stand, 
and by which it is connected with the running gear, 
revolves in such a manner that the teeth pass between 
a corresponding series of metallic grates, curved or bent 
so as to conform to the circumference of the saws, and 
placed in such a manner as only to permit the free pass- 
age of the teeth of the saw, together with the lint which 
it removes in its revolutions. 

The grates form one side of a movable hopper, the 
breastboard or fall in front forming the opposite; the 
hopper working on hinges at the bottom, by which the 
grates can be elevated above the saws as occasion re- 
quires. 

In its working position, the teeth of the saws pass 
through the grates and enter the hopper just so far as 
to take a proper hold on the cotton with which it is 



172 AGRICULTURE. 

kept supplied, by raking in from the pile of seed cotton 
deposited on the top of the stand. 

In operation, the saws passing through the cotton 
causes it to revolve in the hopper, and form a roll from 
which the seed, as the lint becomes detached, falls to the 
bottom, and is removed by means of a spout. 

In the rear of the cylinder, and in contact with it, is 
a circular brush of bristles supported on arms, which 
revolving, by means of the gearing, with a largely accele- 
rated velocity, compared with the revolutions of the 
saws, whips or brushes rapidly and completely from 
them the lint or fibre drawn through the grates. The 
velocity with which this fanlike brush revolves causes a 
strong draft of air through the apertures in the stand, 
which wafts or blows the lint in light flakes or fleeces 
through a trunk or flue to a chamber or lint-room, made 
tight and close for its reception. The flues are con- 
structed with a false floor of slats, between which much 
of the false seed and trash, which may have passed 
through the grates with the lint, falls in passing to the 
lint-room, and the cotton is thus freed from these im- 
purities. It has been stated that the capacity of Whit- 
ney's gin, when first put into operation, was about one 
bale per day. Sixty saw gins are now guaranteed to gin 
five or six bales in the same period; but the average per- 
formance is not more than three where pains are taken 
to make a good article. 

A very slovenly habit having grow^n up chiefly on the 
river plantations and swamp lands, of gathering the 
cotton with a great deal of dirt and trash, consisting of 
parts of bolls and leaf, an appendage to the gin, termed 
a trasher, was devised to get rid of these impurities. It 
consisted of a long hollow cylinder or trunk placed in 
an inclined position, the under side of which was con- 



AGRICULTURE. 173 

structed of coarse wire grating forming an open sieve. 
A long shaft extending lengthwise through the trunk, 
armed with short pegs, being made to revolve rapidly, 
the cotton, which was placed in at the upper end, was 
very thoroughly beaten in its passage through, and a 
large portion of the trash was extracted by falling 
through the grating. 

A comparison, however, of returns of sales of clean, 
neatly handled cotton with those of the most dirty and 
foul, seems to have established the fact that dirt and 
trash command too good a price to be thus wasted. At 
least a sufficient discrimination was not made to com- 
pensate for this particularity of handling. The trashers 
have consequently gone almost entirely out of use. 

It was thought by some that the rotary motion of the 
trasher gave the fibre of the cotton a twist which ren- 
dered it liable to be napped or cut by the saws in the 
ginning process — or at least injured for the purposes of 
the manufacturer. 

Much progress has been made in the modes of pack- 
ing cotton as well as in ginning it. In the first instance, 
it was put up in long round bags containing about three 
hundred pounds, and Sea Island cotton is still so packed. 
A long sack, having been well soaked and partially 
dried, is suspended through a round hole in the floor of 
an upper apartment, and kept extended by stitching a 
wooden hoop to the upper end, and forming a rim or 
ledge which supports it on the floor. The cotton is 
then put in gradually, whilst a man within the bag 
treads and rams it down with an iron bar. A small 
block of wood is placed in each corner and tied for con- 
venience of handling. 

In Mississippi, square bales were first made in a rough 
lever press. This was about the year 1779. Mr. Dun- 



174 AGRICULTURE. 

bar, who experienced the inconvenience of the ma- 
chinery then used for this purpose, ordered from Phila- 
delphia a cast-iron screw-press, which was sent out to 
him at the close of 1801, at the cost of about one thou- 
sand dollars ; at which time he proposed to indemnify 
himself for the expenditure by using it in the manufac- 
ture of cottonseed oil. 

The lever press, however, was soon superseded by the 
press introduced by Greenleaf, composed of two wooden 
screws, which were turned alternately in the packing ; 
this press has not yet gone entirely out of use. 

The detached single wooden screw-press, with the 
long and ponderous A sweeps, connected with the upper 
end of the screw, common in Georgia, is very generally 
used in the eastern and northern counties of the State. 
It seems to be an awkward heavily-timbered structure, 
and never fails to excite surprise that it has not long 
since given place to one which is more convenient, 
efficient, and economical. 

One serious disadvantage attending it is that, from its 
being disconnected from the gin-house, and frequently at 
some distance from it, it becomes necessary to pack the 
ginned cotton to it in baskets down from the lint-room in 
the gin-house and up to the box at the press ; and, not 
being under the same shelter, this must necessarily be 
done in fair dry weather ; whereas, in the other presses, 
the work can go on in wet weather, when the hands 
cannot be otherwise employed, and when, from the 
humidity of the atmosphere, the cotton can be more 
perfectly compressed. 

The press invented by Dr. Newel, of Lake St. Joseph, 
in Louisiana, which goes by his name, has come into 
very general use, especially on large plantations, where 
heavy work is required. 



AGRICULTURE. 175 

It is worked by a single cast-iron screw bolted securely 
at the upper end to the follower, and presses upw^ards 
against a straining beam on the top of the bo2f ; the bale 
being taken out on the upper floor, on a level with the 
lint- room. 

The screw ascends, without turning, through a cast- 
iron, movable nut or female connected with the lower 
beam of the press. To this nut the lever is attached, 
and through it also the lower end of the screw, in bring- 
ing down the follower, passes into a hollow cylinder of 
plank sunk into the ground. Twenty bales is perhaps 
the average number turned out with five hands in a 
day. 

The objection to the press is that ninety revolutions, 
up and down, are required to make a bale; but the 
application of steam-power to this press, as has been 
done on large plantations, obviates this objection. 

McCombs's press is worked by lever power. Two 
beams, the lower ends extended, and resting on rollers, 
stand under the press like an inverted V (A)? ^^ ^^^^ ^^P 
or point of junction of which the follower rests. These 
beams are drawn together by a stout cable or chain, 
made fast to them at the bottom, passing through blocks 
on opposite sides, and winding around a detached up- 
right shaft, which is turned by power attached to the 
end of a suitable lever. It is a very efficient press, and 
is used by many. The principal objection made to it 
arises from the danger of the breaking of the chain or 
rope. The number of revolutions is fifteen to the bale. 

Lewis's revolving lever-press, recently invented, seems 
to have brought this application of power for this pur- 
pose as near perfection as perhaps can be attained. It 
operates under the box by two beams placed in a man- 
ner similar to those in McCombs's press ; but the ends 



176 AGRICULTURE. 

of the levers are made to approach each other by rack 
and pinion work connected with the lower ends; the 
whole press and levers revolve around the stationary 
pinion. Less than four revolutions are sufficient to drive 
the follower up to the proper point ; the whole number of 
revolutions up and down being only about seven. 

On the principle of this press and McCombs's, there is 
a gain of power as the pressure is increased. By either 
of the latter presses, it is said, fifty bales can be turned 
out in twelve hours. Both of them are Mississippi in- 
ventions, introduced by ginwrights of the neighboring 
counties of Claiborne and Warren. 

There have been many previous improvements and 
modifications of the cotton-press, but which, having 
mainly gone out of use, it is not necessary to particu- 
larize. 

The boxes in which the cotton is packed in pressing, 
are made of wide three-inch plank, and are four and a 
half feet long and twenty-two inches wide, securely 
keyed together, and having side doors hinged on the 
ends to take out the bales when pressed and tied; the 
top and bottom of the box, either of which is called the 
follower, as the pressure is applied from above or below, 
according to the construction of the press, are made of 
similar timber, with seven grooves at regular and corre- 
sponding distances, through which to pass the rope. 

Preparatory to making the bale, a piece of bagging of 
suitable dimensions is spread on the bottom of the box. 
A proper quantity being packed or trodden in, another 
piece of bagging, of sufficient size to complete the cover- 
ing, is laid on, the screw or lever is put in motion, and 
the follower ascends or descends into the box, as the 
case may be, to the edge of the side doors, which are 
then thrown open; the ends and edges of the bagging 



AGRICULTURE. 177 

are gathered together, and stitched with twine, and the 
ropes passed through the grooves and tied. The move- 
ment of the screw or lever is then reversed, the pressure 
removed, and the bale taken out. 

Although compressed to nearly a square form, by the 
expansion of the rope when the pressure is taken off, it 
assumes a flattened shape. 

Bales are estimated as averaging four hundred pounds; 
but, as freight is charged by the bale, many planters, 
especially those remote from market, prefer making them 
heavier, and five hundred pound bales are not unusual. 

Hoop iron has been introduced of late years; but the 
use, as yet, is confined to a few large planters. It makes 
a very neat compact bale, and there is not that stretch- 
ing or expansion as in the bales tied with rope. The 
hoops have generally a light coating of paint or varnish 
to prevent oxidation, and are very adroitly and speedily 
fastened by means of iron rivets passed through holes 
previously punched at proper distances. 

The material used for wrapping the cotton is chiefly 
of hemp manufactured in Kentucky, and hence known 
as "Kentucky bagging." It has become so inferior of 
late, however, being frequently so open and slaizy that 
the gin mark cannot be legibly printed upon it, that it 
has been superseded to considerable extent by the India 
bagging and gunny bags, which present a neater appear- 
ance. 

Five gunny bags will wrap a bale, and can be properly 
joined without cutting. They are, however, inferior in 
strength to the other materials used, and are very liable 
to be torn by the iron hooks used by the boat hands in 
loading and unloading the cotton. 

The rope used is chiefly manufactured in Kentucky 
and Missouri, and is generally regarded as the best for 
12 



178 AGRICULTURE. 

the purpose, inferior only to the iron hoop, which has 
this advantage over it, of affording greater security in 
case of fire on shipboard, as the cotton, in a well-com- 
pressed bale, burns slowly with a smouldering flame, 
affording time to extinguish it; whereas, if the ropes 
were burned in two, the bale bursts open, and goes off 
with a fierce blaze that would probably baffle all at- 
tempts to save the cargo. 

Gin houses are generally built with a single floor 
resting on high blocks or pillars to admit of the running 
gear below ; a superstructure with one low story, to- 
gether with the span of the roof, ordinarily affording all 
the space required ; the gin stand being at one end, and 
the lint room and cotton press at the other. 

The running gear' consists of a large central wheel, 
twelve or fifteen feet in diameter, the periphery of which 
rests upon arms framed into a massive upright shaft, 
which rests on an iron gudgeon, and turns in a metallic 
ink in a large wooden block sunk in the ground. The 
circumference of the wheel is provided with vertical 
cogs formerly made of hickory, or some hard wood, but 
which are now very generally superseded by iron, cast 
in segments of convenient dimensions, and securely 
bolted to the rim of the wheel; these cogs play into a 
wallower, or a vertical spur-wheel, on one end of a hori- 
zontal shaft, to the opposite end of which the band 
wheel or drum is attached; a leather band, about a foot 
in width, connects this with the trundle-head of the 
gin stand, and puts the machinery in motion. 

About four mules are employed to propel the ma- 
chinery. One careful experienced hand attends the 
gin stand, and two small boys are required to drive the 
mules. 

The seed cotton, beyond what is required to keep 



AGRICULTURE. 179 

the gin employed, is generally put up in separate cotton 
houses, as a measure of precaution to guard against its 
loss in the event of the burning of the gin, which not 
unfrequently happens from the friction of the machinery, 
carelessness, or by the act of the incendiary. 

The great majority of gins are propelled by horse- 
power. Steam, however, is coming very much into use 
on the large river plantations, and the gin houses are 
constructed of enlarged dimensions and at considerable 
cost ; two or more gin stands sometimes are placed in 
the same building. 

In Washington County, there has recently been 
erected a very spacious and complete gin house, con- 
taining four eighty-saw stands, in which a very complete 
steam-engine supplies the power by which the seed 
cotton is elevated, ginned, and pressed, and the bales 
lowered. 

At the expense of some tediousness of detail, all the 
principal machinery employed in preparing the cotton 
crop has now been sufficiently described to afford the 
uninitiated a reasonable knowledge of all the processes 
it undergoes in fitting it for market. 

The bales are now weighed and numbered, and the 
name of the proprietor, or of his plantation, or both, is 
printed or marked on one end. Formerly, the weight 
was also added. 

The cotton is then hauled in wagons or carts, with ox or 
mule teams, chiefly the former, to the nearest and most 
convenient shipping points, from which it is consigned to 
the agent or commission merchant of the planter. 

That on or convenient to the Tombigbee Eiver goes 
to Mobile; the residue to New Orleans, accompanied by 
bills of lading given by the boats, a copy or duplicate of 
which is retained by the shipper. 



180 AGRICULTURE. 

The smaller planters find a market nearer home, and 
generally prefer selling at the shipping port, chiefly at 
Yazoo City, Jackson, Vicksburg and Natchez, and at 
Aberdeen and Columbus on the Tombigbee. 

A considerable portion from North Mississippi goes to 
Memphis, Tennessee. That which goes to New Orleans 
and Mobile, is delivered at the cotton presses, or is de- 
posited on the wharves, and thence hauled on drays to 
the warehouses of the consignees. 

Each bale is then sampled by cutting into the edge 
and drawing a small portion of the cotton, which is classi- 
fied and put up in packages of cartridge paper, and ex- 
posed in the counting-room of the merchant to the inspec- 
tion of the cotton-brokers, who are employed to purchase 
for the manufacturers, or those who speculate in the 
article. 

When sold, it is reweighed, and sent to the steam- 
presses, where it is recompressed and reduced to equal 
dimensions on the sides for greater economy of space in 
storing on shipboard. 

If carefully and correctly weighed, there will generally 
be a gain on the gin weights in favor of the planter of 
two or three per cent. 

Accounts of sales are returned to the planter, and the 
proceeds credited to him, deducting two and a half per 
cent, commission for selling and the incidental charges, 
such as freight, drayage, storage, weighing, and river and 
fire insurance; the latter being covered by what are 
termed open policies, kept by the merchant with the in- 
surance offices, and which embrace all consignments ex- 
cept those on which the shipper prefers taking the risk 
himself, and notifies the consignee accordingly. 



AGRICULTURE. 181 



MAIZE, OR INDIAN CORN—VARIETIES— CULTIYATION 
AND PRODUCTION. 

It is needless here to discuss the question of the 
eastern or western origin of this most nutritious and 
invaluable grain. That has already been satisfactorily 
done, and the evidence justifies us in placing it among 
many other similar contributions for which the Old 
World is indebted to the New. 

It is certain that the first Europeans that set foot in 
Mississippi found it generally cultivated by the Indian 
tribes. 

In the progress of De Soto's expedition, it was noticed 
as " of such luxuriant growth as to produce three or four 
ears to the stalk." 

With us, as an article of food, it has become by far 
the most important that our soil produces. 

The varieties which seem best adapted to our climate 
are the Tuscarora, the Gourd Seed, and the White and 
Yellow Flint. 

Other varieties thrive well, but being less generally 
applicable to the varied uses of the grain, are not esta- 
blished as a common production. 

Among these are the White Flour corn, the Sweet 
Rareripe, or Mandan, the small Flint "j9op-com," and 
some fancy kinds, such as the Golden Grain, &c., which 
are occasionally introduced. 

All these kinds are valued for particular qualities, 
which are combined in none, and are more or less in 
favor with different planters, according to the uses or 
purposes for which they are designed, or as they accord 



182 AGRICULTURE. 

with the standard of excellence which each one, in the 
diversity of taste or judgment^ may have formed. 

Generally, they are kept distinct, and preserved at 
least in their original purity, if not improved. 

Some planters, who are noted for good management 
and good living, cultivate at least two or three kinds, 
which are not suffered to become mixed, so as to have 
the benefit of all the distinctive qualities of the grain in 
all the forms in which it is used. 

Too many, however, content themselves with a single 
kind, if such may be said of a heterogeneous mixture of 
every variety that results from indiscriminate cultiva- 
tion. 

As a stock corn, the gourd seed, from its easy masti- 
cation, is perhaps generally preferred, a preference, not- 
withstanding the property and the size of the ear and 
grain, to which it is not fully entitled, being perhaps the 
lightest and least nutritious of all the varieties. 

The white flint is unequalled for bread, which, when 
properly prepared, approaches most nearly that made 
from wheat ; and for that famed Maryland and Virginia 
dish, ^^ great hominy,'' a luxury which few substantial 
planters will forego at their tables, is indispensable. 

Its great hardness forms the objection to its use for 
stock, particularly for old horses and oxen— an objection 
which, however, may be obviated by soaking it in water 
for a few hours. 

It is a heavy corn, and contains a large proportion of 
nutriment ; is perhaps as little affected by weevil as any 
other, and withstands the drought better than any other 
kind; and it is admitted that it yields most fodder. 

The Tuscarora, which is an intermediate variety, 
originating doubtless in a mixture of the white flint and 
gourd seed, and in which the opposite and objectionable 



AGRICULTURE. 183 

properties of these are in a measure overcome, is de- 
cidedly, for common purposes, the most valuable, as it is 
believed to be the most generally cultivated variety ; for 
the size of the ear, the smallness of the cob, and perhaps 
the yield per acre, it is unsurpassed. 

It requires careful selection, having a tendency, in rich 
land, to run too much to stalk or to return to one or the 
other of the varieties in which it originated. 

Contrary to the too generally entertained opinion that 
all our seeds run out in time, and require continual 
changes from abroad, this corn has been cultivated for 
more than thirty years on the same plantation, in which 
time it has been greatly improved. 

The Flour Corn is highly esteemed by many for bread, 
being very white, and pulverizing readily in the mill to a 
soft impalpable meal, free from the gritty character of 
that from the flinty varieties. Its chief excellence, how- 
ever, is found in its superiority for use in the green or 
immature state, as the roasting ear, being unequalled for 
the pulpy sweetness and tenderness of the grain when 
so dressed. 

It is claimed, for some of the yellow varieties, that 
they are the most nutritious, as evidenced by the relative 
weight of the grain and the percentage of alcohol pro- 
duced by distillation ; they are, however, unsuitable for 
bread, having a raw dough-like taste, and are believed 
to be unwholesome, intestinal diseases being sometimes 
traced to their use. 

Corn with us is cultivated chiefly in the drill, being 
planted on the ridge or in the water furrow, according 
to the character of the ground, whether flat and low or 
high and rolling ; the success of either mode depending 
somewhat on the moisture or dryness of the succeeding 
season. 



184 AGRICULTURE. 

The most usual time of planting is about the first of 
March ; the only motive for planting earlier being to get 
out of the way of the cotton crop ; the cultivation of 
which is too much embarrassed by a late crop of corn. 

The plough is the principal implement employed in 
the cultivation, and it is rarely gone over more than 
twice with the hoe. 

The blades are generally in a condition to be gathered 
for fodder between the laying hy of the cotton and the 
commencement of the picking season. 

The tops or top fodder are very rarely saved, as in the 
northern States \ and the blades, after being dried in the 
field, and tied in bundles, are put up in stacks in or near 
the barnyard, but more usually in convenient places in 
the fields where they grow. 

Some planters gather their corn in the latter part of 
August, or before the press of the cotton-picking season. 
If it is sufiered to remain in the field, as it frequently 
is, until the approach of winter, it is usual to bend down 
the stalk below the ear, as in that inverted position it is 
better protected from the weather, the shuck, or husk, 
very effectually shedding the rain, and preventing the 
mildew and sprouting of the grain. It is also less ex- 
posed to damage from violent winds, which frequently 
occur about the period of the autumnal equinox, and 
better protection against the depredations of the wood- 
pecker, blackbird, and other enemies, is thus afforded. 

The proper time and mode of housing corn, with 
reference to the ravages of the weevil, have long been a 
contested question among planters. 

Many store it away in open, well-ventilated cribs, 
with latticed sides. Others sprinkle the difierent layers 
of corn, always put up in the shuck, with a weak brine. 



AGRICULTURE. 185 

or strew the berries or leaves of the China tree, or the 
bark and leaves of the sassafras, through the mass in 
the same way. 

None of these expedients have proved effectual, and I 
am inclined to think, from conversation with many ju- 
dicious, practical planters, that the cribs cannot be too 
close or dark. 

It is the result of their experience, also, that the de- 
struction of the weevil, which is deposited in the field, 
is best accomplished by gathering the corn when quite 
wet, immediately after a rain, and housing it in that 
state. Sufficient moisture is retained to occasion a de- 
gree of heat in the mass, adequate to the destruction of 
the weevil, either in its mature or larva state, without 
at all damaging the corn. The close, dark crib secures 
it then from further damage, as very few weevil will 
find access to it. 

It must be understood, however, that the corn is not 
to be exposed to rain after being pulled from the stalk, 
or when lying in heaps on the ground. If so, it be- 
comes saturated, and, if put up in that state, would in- 
fallibly mildew and spoil. 

In gathering corn in the field, it is sUp-shuched, as it 
is termed ; that is, the footstalk is broken off within 
the shuck, so as to leave the outer coarse and weathered 
folds attached to the stalk, the ear remaining enveloped 
in two-thirds of the inner sound and softer folds or 
layers, which serve not only to protect the corn from 
shelling off and wasting in the hauling and housing, but 
supply a large store of valuable forage for mules and 
cattle, even more nutritious, when properly treated, than 
the blades themselves. 

It is difficult to estimate the average production per 
acre, throughout the State. Perhaps it is as low as 



186 AGRICULTURE. 

twenty bushels. Thirty bushels are accounted a very 
fair crop, and forty a large one. 

The total production of corn in the State, in 1849, 
was stated at 22,446,000 bushels, equal to about thirty- 
seven bushels to each individual inhabitant. 

Mississippi ranks only as eleventh as a corn-producing 
State, making a little over a third of the quantity pro- 
duced in Ohio and Kentucky. Three other States, in- 
cluding the adjoining State of Tennessee, make double 
the quantity. If our corn crop was suitably distributed, 
it might perhaps afford a scant subsistence, but the river 
counties are largely indebted to the Western States for 
their supply. 



WHEAT, OATS, RYE, BARLEY, RICE, ETC. 

Of these less cultivated and comparatively less im- 
portant cereals, some of which are imperfectly adapted 
to our climate, this notice will be quite brief 

The humidity of the climate, especially of the south- 
ern and western counties, subjects wheat to the smut ; 
and the want of water-power, and suitable mills for 
preparing the flour, together with the facility of pro- 
curing it from the w^heat-growing States, at a cost below 
that of producing it, prevents its cultivation in this 
quarter. 

In the northern and eastern counties, where these 
considerations do not apply to the same extent, and 
where there are in many neighborhoods convenient, and 
in some cases very efficient, merchant mills, it becomes 
more an object of attention. The quality and weight 
of grain in that quarter, and the yield per acre, are 



AGRICULTURE. 187 

spoken of favorably ; but of this I have been unable to 
procure more minute particulars. 

The quantity raised in Mississippi, in 1849, was 
138,000 bushels. 

Oats, of which, in the same year, there were produced 
1,500,000 bushels, are better adapted to our climate. 

Of the two varieties, Spring and Winter Oat, the 
latter, known also as the Egyptian or Black Oat, is cul- 
tivated chiefly for pasture, and may be grazed with little 
deterioration of the crop until the first of March. It 
succeeds well, and would be more cultivated if the 
abundant production of Indian corn, in the general esti- 
mation of planters, did not render it unnecessary. It is, 
however, much more extensively sown than the census 
returns would indicate; as, being in a great measure de- 
signed for winter grazing, perhaps not half the quantity 
grown is harvested. 

Some planters are in the habit of sowing the winter 
oat between the cotton rows, when they go over their 
fields the last time with the hoe-harrow. The seed lie 
dormant whilst the ground is shaded, and do not germi- 
nate until the cotton plant is killed by the frost. The 
oats are not sufiiciently advanced, therefore, to injure 
the crop, or to present any impediment to the gathering 
of the cotton. After supplying the winter grazing, the 
green crop is turned in, in the spring, by which the 
land is thought to be enriched ; the oat also protects the 
ground from washing into guUeys by the heavy winter 
rains. 

Rye and barley may be said to be grown almost ex- 
clusively for pasturing. By the last census returns, 
about 10,000 bushels of the former, and only 229 
bushels of the latter, were the amount produced in 
1849. The former is adapted to every part of the 



188 AGRICULTUEE. 

State. Barley I have only seen in the northern coun- 
ties. In Washington County, it is said to thrive as well 
as in Kentucky. 

A class of grain-bearing plants, which can hardly be 
said to be cultivated, at least to any extent, but which 
are often found growing in vacant spaces in the fields, 
frequently, from a chance scattering of the seed, have a 
value for some purposes which should entitle them to 
more attention. I allude to the Holcas hicolor, Guinea 
Corn, or Chicken Corn, as it is variously termed, and the 
allied species, the Broom Corn, and another kind known 
to me only as the " Hebron Corn." These all resemble 
the maize in the stalk and blade, growing equally as 
high, the stem more slender and of a tougher and more 
reedy character. The grain is produced on large heads, 
on the extremity of the stalks. 

The first two species are too common and well known 
to require further description; the latter, or "Hebron 
Corn," grows in a compact and heavy cluster, the stalk 
generally curving downward a few inches below the 
head, which grows to maturity in an inverted position ; 
the grains in each head are very numerous, and more 
than double the size of those of either of the other 
species. 

These all afibrd a valuable grain for young poultry ; 
but their chief value consists in shading and fertilizing 
the land, and more especially for stopping washes and 
gulleys in the fields, which is done very effectually by 
the matted roots, and for which purpose it is coming to 
be the practice of many planters to strew the seed of 
the Guinea corn about the ends of the turn-rows and 
heads of hollows, a usage much to be commended. 

Of rice, the census returns give about 2,700,000 
pounds, as the crop of Mississippi in 1849. It is very 



AGRICULTURE. 189 

generally cultivated in the southeastern counties, rarely, 
however, beyond an acre or two on a farm, although 
there are some plantations of considerable extent, as on 
the tide-waters of the gulf, one of which was observed 
on Back Bay, a few miles in the rear of Mississippi 
City. 

The Upland variety is chiefly cultivated, and is in 
some cases partially irrigated. 

It is principally cleaned by pounding by hand. A 
mill was met with, however, in Marion County, where 
both the hulling and winnowing were very effectually 
performed by water-power, on a scale adequate to the 
wants of a considerable neighborhood. The flavor of 
the newly-prepared rice met with in those counties is 
much richer and sweeter than that which we ordinarily 
purchase. 



SUGAR-CANE. 

The sugar-cane is cultivated to a limited extent in 
some portions of the State. By the census returns, it 
appears that the crop of 1849 was equal to 388 hogs- 
heads, and about 18,000 gallons of molasses. 

Molasses has been made as far north as latitude 
33° 40' north, in Chickasaw County, where an experi- 
ment of three years has encouraged the belief that sugar 
can be profitably produced there to the extent of the 
local demand. 

Sugar has also been made in Hinds County on a small 
scale for experiment, and small patches of the cane be- 
come more common as we approach the sea-shore. 

East of Pearl River, and south of Covington County, 
many of the most substantial planters make all the sugar 



190 AGRICULTURE. 

and molasses required for their own use, and some to 
spare to their neighbors. 

The cane is obviously becoming gradually acclimated, 
and may at no distant period be grown advantageously 
throughout the greater portion of the State, for home 
consumption. 

The sugar-mills are, of course, rude, and of small 
dimensions, consisting, in fact, of little more than the 
rollers for grinding the cane, which are made of seasoned 
oak timber, and stand generally in the open air ; a com- 
mon shed suffices for a protection of the kettles, which 
are common iron ones, such as are used for stock. 

There are two of these mills in Pike County, and as 
many in Amite, where molasses has been made. In 
Marion County there are some eighteen or twenty, and 
several in Perry. 

Should the ravages of the army worm and the rot 
continue to increase, and the present price of cotton not 
be maintained, the period is not remote, perhaps, when 
the cane will, to considerable extent, supersede the culti- 
vation of cotton on the river plantations as high up as 
Natchez or Vicksburg. 



SWEET POTATO— BATATUS EDULIS. 

The esteem in which the sweet potato is held may 
be estimated by the extent to which it is produced, 
4,742,000 bushels, worth more than two millions and a 
quarter of dollars, being the crop of Mississippi of 1849. 

In the production of this esculent, Mississippi ranks 
fourth among the States of the Union; Georgia, North 
Carolina, and Alabama only excelling her. 

Five varieties are cultivated with us, which will be 



AGRICULTURE. 191 

mentioned in the order of their excellence, as generally 
estimated. First in quality, as in extent of cultivation, 
stands the Yam, which, if surpassed by some in average 
size, is approached by but one in delicacy of flavor. Its 
shape is oval or roundish, with a smooth exterior, and 
yellowish tint. It is as prolific as any other, and keeps 
remarkably well. 

The next in place is the Spanish, or White potato; it 
is long and crooked, with large veins or nerves running 
lengthwise on the exterior, by which it is universally cha- 
racterized. . Another characteristic, which distinguishes 
it from all others, is an aptitude of the flesh, or meat, if 
I may so designate it, when cooked, to divide or separate 
in layers or flakes lengthwise, the fibre at the same time 
being destitute of any stringy property. 

Early in the season, it is rather too milky to suit the 
taste of many, but when thoroughly cured, it becomes 
very sweet and rich, difiering somewhat in flavor from 
the yam. It grows to a large size, and, singularly enough, 
notwithstanding its excellence, it seems to be greatly 
neglected of late, and is not now often met with. 

The Bermuda potato has a deep crimson or purple 
skin ; but the interior is very white. In form, it is more 
cylindrical than the yam, somewhat elongated, and is 
regarded by some as the largest and most prolific va- 
riety. Its flavor, however, is coarse and flat. 

The Eed is the earliest variety introduced here. It 
was formerly very generally cultivated; it is inferior to 
the foregoing in size, and not now very much in use. 

It is rather dry and mealy, and is best early in the 
season, when newly dug, and it is perhaps the earliest to 
mature. 

The Poplar Koot, which somewhat resembles the yam 
in outward appearance,, but not generally so round, with 



192 AGRICULTURE. 

a smooth skin, and the color rather a deeper yellow, was 
introduced ten or fifteen years since with high com- 
mendations. It proved a watery, insipid kind, however, 
and is now generally banished. 

Up to the period of 1810 or 1815, the yam potato 
was rarely seen; the old red and white Spanish being 
altogether cultivated — the former much the most exten- 
sively. 

The Bermuda is the most recent introduction. 

All the varieties of the sweet potato succeed best in 
a loose sandy soil, although the yam is said to flourish 
in the prairies of the eastern counties. I have seen one 
of that variety raised near Macon, which weighed ten 
pounds. 

The proper time for planting is about the first of April, 
and the most approved mode of raising the yam is to 
spread the small roots or potato plantings on a rich bed 
about the first of March, covering them with three or 
four inches of loose rich soil. When the sprouts make 
their appearance above the surface, they are drawn and 
set out in newly-made ridges after or during a rain. 

These beds continue to throw out a succession of 
sprouts, which may be planted every favorable season as 
late as the first of August, and if well worked, and the 
weather be not too dry, will make good potatoes. It is 
said the red potato does not succeed so well when planted 
in this way. 

At some seasons, the sweet potato is sufficiently 
matured for early use by the first of September ; but it 
is attended with great waste to commence on them so 
soon, as it is thought the tubers grow more in October, 
after the vine begins to decline than before. 

The best time for digging potatoes is the first good dry 
mild weather succeeding the first frost that kills the 



AGRICULTURE. 193 

vines. They are then better ripened, freer from water 
or sap, and consequently keep better. They should not 
be suffered to remain undug until the ground freezes, 
as they will become frostbitten and rot. 

The most approved mode of preserving the sweet 
potato, is to place them in piles or heaps of about twenty- 
five bushels each, on raised ground, with a flooring of 
corn-stalks and straw, the sides being lined with the 
same material, the whole covered with three or four 
inches of earth or sod, a small aperture being left near 
the apex of the cone for the escape of the moisture 
which passes off from the potato when undergoing the 
sweat, which always takes place soon after they are 
placed in bulk. 

Put up properly in this way, they will keep perfectly 
sound and sweet until June or even later. 

The potato patch affords a good gleaning to the fatten- 
ing hogs, which are usually turned upon it, and find in 
the small tubers, cut and waste potatoes, a favorite food, 
on which they thrive rapidly, and is a good preparation 
for after feeding on corn in the close pen. 

Some planters put in a large crop of sweet potatoes for 
this purpose, and when corn is scarce give no other food. 
The meat is said, however, to be less firm, and the lard 
more oily, than that of the corn-fattened hog. 



THE IRISH POTATO— SOLANTJM TUBEROSUM. 

The Irish potato is not extensively cultivated, and 
seldom beyond the limits of the garden. 

Two varieties — the Meshanic, and the Purple Eye — 
are those which seem to be most approved, the red being 
rarely planted, under the common belief that the white 
13 



194 AGRICULTURE. 

varieties succeed the best. For what we do plant we are 
dependent every year almost entirely on those brought 
down the Mississippi from the Western States. 

A course embracing the planting, cultivation, and 
after treatment, which has been tested many years, may 
be confidently recommended as one attended with much 
success. 

In suitable weather, soon after the first of January, 
on the even, clean, but unbroken surface of the ground 
appropriated for the purpose, place the cuttings, with 
the eye upwards, three inches apart, in rows two feet 
distant from each other. Cover xmll with light rich 
vegetable compost. Well rotted corn-blades, straw, or 
leaves from the woods are well suited for this purpose. 
Draw over this a moderate ridge of earth. As soon as 
the tops show themselves generally above the surface, 
an inch or two high, ridge up with earth, again covering 
the top entirely, and repeat this in ten days or so, when 
the tops appear the second time. This will give a ridge 
of sufficient size, and completes the cultivation. 

About the middle of April the potatoes are fit for use, 
and are to be dug daily, as required. 

About the first of June, especially if the season be dry, 
the tops begin to fail and gradually die ; the grass and 
weeds which spring up between the rows must not after- 
wards by any means be removed ; otherwise, when de- 
prived of the shade afforded by the top, the potato will 
become partially scorched or baked in the ground by the 
intense summer heat, which makes them watery, and 
causes them to rot. Protected by the grass and weeds, 
they remain fresh and sound, and will keep in excellent 
condition until frost. 

It is generally conceded that the Irish potato cannot 
in our climate be kept through the summer out of the 



AGRICULTURE. 195 

ground. For this reason, and possessing no value for 
stock/ together with the preference which most south- 
erners give to the sweet potato, it is not more culti- 
vated. 

The crop of 1849 was about 260,000 bushels. 

There is a considerable consumption of the Irish po- 
tato in our cities and towns convenient to the river, 
which are obtained from the "Western States, at a price 
much below what they can be produced for here. 



PULSE. 

The bean is not cultivated at all in Mississippi as a 
field crop. Several varieties of the cornfield pea, how- 
ever, are extensively grown. 

One million of bushels is reported as the production 
of 1849 ; but, when it is remembered that a very large 
portion of the crop is consumed by stock in the field^ — 
that being cultivated with us mainly for the ameliora- 
tion of the land, the period for gathering coming on also 
in the press of the cotton-picking season ; and that con- 
sequently a large proportion of planters save little more 
than is necessary for seed, it will at once be perceived 
that the quantity stated in the census returns, as the 
production of Mississippi, is very greatly below that 
actually raised. 

The chief varieties cultivated are the Cow Pea (pha- 
seolus), the Crowder, and the White Pea. 

The first is supposed to be indigenous to the United 
States, as it was found in cultivation among the Indians 
by the first English settlers in Virginia. The color of 
this pea is a dark yellow inclining to red, and tinges the 



196 ~ AGRICULTURE. 

water in which it is boiled a dark color, inclining to 
purple. It is of coarse flavor, and fit only for stock. 

The Crowder is considered more prolific. The pod is 
larger and longer, and the peas, which are numerous in 
each pod, cylindrical in form, the ends truncated or 
flattened by compression one against another, growing 
in close contact. It is for this reason very subject to 
mildew and rot in wet weather — an objection from 
which the other named varieties are in a great measure 
exempt. 

The last mentioned, or White Pea, introduced within 
a few years, and not yet very generally, seems to remain 
sound in the field for a length of time, and can therefore 
be housed at the convenience of the planter. Besides 
this good property, it forms an excellent dish for the 
table, being light in color when dressed, and even of 
more delicate flavor than the marrowfat pea of the gar- 
den. There is reason to believe that if it could super- 
sede the other varieties, the prejudice against the pea, 
arising from the frequent loss of stock of all kinds from 
feeding too freely upon it in the fields, would in a great 
measure be overcome, these casualties arising probably 
from the unsound and consequently unwholesome con- 
dition to which the Crowder especially is subject. 

The pea is most usually sown broadcast between the 
corn rows at the time it receives the last working with 
the plough or harrow; sometimes in the rows at an 
earlier stage of the growth of the corn — a practice that 
many object to, as it impedes the gathering the fodder 
which becomes entangled by the vine. 

A new variety, said to come from Oregon, has been 
introduced the present year, and highly recommended 
as a fertilizer of the soil. 

In the first stage of its growth, the Oregon pea stands 



AGRICULTURE. 197 

erect, and is not unlike the cotton plant, branching 
somewhat in the same way, the stalk near the ground 
being at least an inch in diameter. After attaining the 
height of about three feet, it bends to the ground, which 
it soon covers with a heavy mat of tangled branches or 
vines. 

The hull or pod is perfectly cylindrical, nearly 
straight, and not exceeding three or four inches in 
length, quite black, and well filled with a small green 
pea, resembling in form and size the ocra seed. 

From the size and strength of the stalk or vine, the 
ploughing it in the green state is quite impracticable. 
It returns, however, a large amount of vegetable matter 
to the ground, and on this account will probably be 
found to excel the common pea vine. The pea itself 
seems to be too small and insignificant to be of any 
value. 



GRASSES. 

Of our grasses, no attempt will be made here to give 
even a catalogue. Only a few of the most characteristic 
and useful will be noticed. 

Foremost of these, although an introduced species, 
stands the Bermuda. It is rather a later grass, and 
revels in the hot, dry weather of midsummer, when 
most of our other grasses fail. 

It will bear two or three heavy cuttings, and produces 
an almost incredible quantity of delicate nutritious hay, 
excelling, it is believed, in this particular, any other 
grass. 

Like the sugar cane, it has not yet been so far natural- 
ized as to perfect its seed, and is therefore propagated 



198 AGRICULTURE. 

wholly by transplanting. The facility with which it 
extends itself by means of runners, which trail to a great 
length over the ground, striking root at every joint, from 
which spring also numerous narrow fine blades, forming 
a thick, matted, luxuriant growth, soon spreads it over a 
considerable space. Indeed, this property, its tenacity 
of life, and the depth to which it drives its rootlets, 
render it a terror to many planters almost as great as 
the bitter coco, of the sugar plantations in Louisiana. 

It is true that it is rather troublesome to contend with 
in the cultivation of a corn or cotton crop on ground on 
which it has become thoroughly established ; but with 
proper management it can be eradicated. 

Shade is inimical to its growth, and any crop that will 
cover the ground very densely through the summer and 
fall, will in a year or two destroy it. 

It is emphatically the best grass for our climate, and 
the only one that fully withstands the scorching heats 
and severe droughts of our summers. 

Forming a dense compact sod, it is destined to be the 
chief agent in reclaiming those extensive tracts of broken 
lands in the river counties, once unsurpassed for fertility 
and productiveness, but which, by negligent or injudicious 
cultivation, have become defaced with unseemly gulleys 
and gaping ravines, to arrest and fill up which, must be 
the first step in reclaiming them. 

The Natchez grass, a native which derives it name 
from first being noticed about the commons of that city, 
is found overspreading the bluff lands of the river coun- 
ties. To what extent it has spread in other sections of 
the State, I am not fully prepared to say. It is a coarse 
luxuriant grass, growing in tufts or bunches, and bear- 
ing its seed in a head, enveloped in a black powder, or 
smut, which renders it unsightly and disagreeable. It 



AGEICULTURE. 199 

appears to stand the drought well, and, notwithstanding 
it is coarse and tough, cattle seem to thrive upon it. 

The crab grass [panicum sanguinale), which has a 
very wide geographical range, is perhaps the most abun- 
dant and persistent species here. It is that with which 
the planter has chiefly to contend in the cultivation of 
the cotton and corn crop. It has ample time to come to 
maturity after the cultivation of the latter has ceased, 
producing generally a heavy and luxuriant crop between 
the corn rows, from which most of the crab-grass hay 
saved is pulled by the hand. 

There are many other native grasses, such as the crow- 
foot and other yard grasses, but none of them has assumed 
any importance for producing or saving of hay. 

The timothy, blue grass, and orchard grass, receive 
some attention in the northern part of the State, but are 
rarely met with in the other portions of it. 

The white clover is pretty generally distributed, grows 
luxuriantly in good soil, and might be turned to good 
account but for its objectionable property of salivating 
stock, especially horses, when grazing upon it. 

Experiments have been made in the cultivation of red 
clover with the use of plaster of Paris with very satis- 
factory results. 



200 



AGRICULTURE. 



STATISTICS. 

PROGRESS AND CONDITION Or THE PLANTING INTEREST. 

Having passed in review the chief products of agri- 
cultural industry of the State, I subjoin a set of tabular 
statements, compiled from the United States census re- 
turns, and from other sources, to exhibit, in a condensed 
view, the progress and present condition of the planting 
interest, and which will afford some reliable data for 
estimating its future prospects. The progressive in- 
crease of the population of the State is also given for 
convenient reference, in connection with the agricultural 
statistics. 

Population of Mississippi, decennially ascertained. 



1800. 


1810. 


1820. 


1830. 


1840. 


1850. 


8,850 


40,352 


75,448 


136,621 


875,651 


606,555 



Statement of the Cotton Crop of the United States for tlie last ten years, 
witli the Receipts, Average Price, and Value at New Orleans. 





Receipt 


Receipts 












of first 


to Sept. 


Total receipts 


Average 


Total value in 


Total crop of 


Year. 


bale in 


1, in 


in New 


price 


New Orleans. 


the United 




New 


New 


Orleans. 


per bale. 




States. 




Orleans. 


Orleans. 










1843 


Aug. 17 


292 


910,854 


132 


$29,147,328 


2,080,409 


1844 


July 23 


5720 


979,238 


24 


23,501,712 


2,894,503 


1845 


July 30 


6846 


1,053,638 


32 


88,716,256 


2,100,537 


1846 


Aug. 7 


140 


740,669 


44 


82,589,436 


1,778,651 


1847 


Aug. 9 


1089 


1,213,805 


29 


85,200,845 


2,347,634 


1848 


Aug. 5 


2864 


1,142,382 


27 


80,844,814 


2,728,596 


1849 


Aug. 7 


477 


837,728 


50 


41,886,150 


2,096,706 


1850 


x\Ug. 11 


67 


995,086 


49 


48,756,764 


2,355,257 


1851 


July 25 


3155 


1,429,183 


84 


48,592,222 


3,015,029 


1852 


Aug. 2 


5077 


1,664,864 


41 


68,259,424 


8,262,882 



AGRICULTURE. 



201 



Cotton Crop of the United States, of 1849, in hales of 400 pounds. 



Alabama 
Georgia 










564,429 
499,091 


Mississippi . 
South Carolina 










484,293 
300,901 


Tennessee 










194,523 


Louisiana 
North Carolina 
Arkansas 
Texas . 
Florida 










178,737 
73,849 
65,346 
57,596 
45,131 


Virginia 

Kentucky 

Indiana 










3,947 

758 
14 



Total (statement per census returns) 2,468,624 

Total, per annual statement New Orleans 

price current of Sept. 1, 1853 . 2,096,706 



Discrepancy 



371,918 



Comparative Summary of Cotton Crop of the United States, from New 
Yorh Shipping List, in hales of 4:00 pounds. 





1850. 


1851. 


1852. 


New Orleans .... 

Alabama 

Texas 

Florida 

Georgia 

South Carolina . . . 
North Carolina . . . 

Virginia 

Elsewhere 


933,369 

451,748 

45,820 

181,204 

322,376 

387,075 

12,928 

19,940 

979 


1,373,484 

549,449 

64,052 

188,499 

325,714 

476,614 

16,242 

20,820 

175 


1,580,875 

546,029 

85,790 

179,476 

349,490 

463,203 

23,496 

25,783 

9,740 


Total crop 


2,353,257 


3,015,029 


3,262,882 



202 



AGRICULTURE. 



Agricultural Prodiictions of Mississippi from Census Returns of 
1840 and 1850. 



Year, 


Bales of 
cotton. 


Bushels of 
corn. 


Bushels 
of wheat. 


Rye and 
oats. 


Bushels 

sweet 

potatoes. 


Pounds of 
rice. 


1840 
1850 


484,293 


13,161,237 

22,446,552 


196,626 
137,990 


680,068 
1,515,894 


1,630,100 
4,741,795 


777,195 
2,719,856 



Live 


Stock in Mississippi, from Census returns of 1840 and 1850. 


Year. 


Horses. 


Mules. 


Cattle. 


Sheep. 


Swine. 


1840 

1850 


115,460 


109,227* 
54,547 


623,197 

733,970 


128,367 
304,929 


1,001,209 

1,582,734 



Agricultural Productions of 3Iississippi in 1849, per Census Returns 

O/1850. 



COUNTY. 


Bales of 


Bushels 


Bushels 


Bushels 


Rye and 


Pounds 




cotton. 


of corn. 


of wheat. 


of oats. 


barley. 


of rice. 


Adams 


17,473 


334,353 




6,660 






Amite 


7,847 


380,917 




15,310 


16 


151,603 


Atala 


5,631 


522,503 


1,109 


15,244 


78 


27,015 


Bolivar 


4,723 


107,075 




60 






Choctaw 


4,458 


404,244 


8,082 


36,794 


162 


23,350 


Chickasaw 


9,644 


771,452 


7,802 


25,623 


182 


7,540 


Covington 


1,164 


108,920 


104 


9,417 


101 


41,235 


Coahoma 


2,430 


134,815 




255 




6,727 


Copiah 


9,318 


436,485 




42,174 


5 


241,685 


Claiborne 


20,795 


488,003 




13,924 




20 


Clark 


1,817 


174,235 


215 


2,690 


20 


6,690 


Carrol 


17,989 


727,340 


744 


82,122 


308 


39,070 


De Soto 


20,278 


741,519 


4,482 


68,278 


107 


10,275 


Franklin 


4,347 


189,195 




4,995 




83,220 


Green 


81 


41,275 




115 




30,810 


Harrison 




9,524 








81,380 


Hancock 


70 


22,825 




305 




129,420 


Hinds 


19,829 


853,305 




61,689 


90 


105,650 


Holmes 


12,635 


543,155 


1,814 


48,177 


611 


72,550 


Itawamba 


5,519 


533,507 


4,430 


26,592 


119 


473 


Issaquena 


8,461 


143,130 




1,045 






Jefferson 


16,193 


417,745 




14,035 






Jones 


250 


60,988 


11 


3,411 


5 


74,555 



* Horses and mules. 



AGRICULTURE. 



203 



Agricultural Productions of Mississipp 


: in 1849 


— Continued. 


COUNTY. 


Bales of 


Bushels 


Bushels 


Bushels 


Rye and 


Pounds 




cotton. 


of corn. 


of wheat. 


of oats. 


barley. 


of rice. 


Jasper 


1,422 


209,691 


194 


14,923 


80 


39,110 


Jackson 




29,848 








113,975 


Kemper 


5,115 


504,685 


238 


40,495 


60 




Lawrence 


3,304 


229,129 


2,820 


14,281 


21 


76,103 


Lafayette 


10,387 


562,530 


14,749 


57,964 


887 


45,985 


Leake 


1,644 


180,637 


321 


9,071 


358 


70,040 


Lauderdale 


4,195 


324,459 


2,808 


21,771 


129 


102,203 


Lowndes 


15,127 


871,864 


1,166 


41,120 




5,850 


Marion 


1,411 


130,504 


10 


5,806 


30 


134,540 


Madison 


14,863 


785,485 


331 


76,964 


628 


54,821 


Monroe 


17,814 


901,136 


7,485 


62,696 


644 


4,436 


Marshall 


32,775 


1,236,006 


19,326 


147,232 


2,232 


82,683 


Noxubee 


12,555 


895,713 


1,853 


52,631 


134 


128 


Neshoba 


1,422 


153,235 


1,703 


9,197 


260 


14,050 


Newton 


1,474 


165,186 


305 


12,861 


5 


32,330 


Oktibbeha 


5,479 


389,796 


2,094 


24,124 


100 


7,189 


Pike 


4,128 


245,751 




27,366 


51 


290,550 


Panola 


8,918 


451,909 


4,809 


45,062 


359 


15,889 


Perry 


388 


58,360 




1,705 


9 


88,000 


Pontotoc 


9,017 


667,012 


8,339 


30,331 


334 


32,131 


Rankin 


2,676 


217,673 




11,626 




66,105 


Smith 


1,111 


128,641 


212 


8,251 


103 


36,195 


Scott 


881 


95,500 




3,865 




57,590 


Simpson 


1,851 


165,099 


113 


6,199 


7 


83,207 


Sunflower 


1,900 


33,390 










Tishomingo 


3,945 


526,769 


8,559 


50,704 


406 


10,600 


Tunica 


717 


94,735 




680 


50 


50 


Tallahatchie 


4,977 


190,930 


203 


10,962 


16 


282 


Tippah 


12,098 


865,131 


22,011 


83,440 


475 


32,333 


Winston 


3,091 


326,408 


6,235 


34,221 


269 


44,394 


"Washington 


26,178 


424,600 




1,400 






Warren 


18,513 


451,875 




7,790 




580 


Wilkinson 


26,381 


504,795 




19,450 




17,690 


Wayne 


1,217 


84,280 




580 




6,300 


Yazoo 


22,052 


556,505 




30,270 


36 


16,210 


Yellobusha 


14,314 


640,775 


3,313 


59,335 


347 


5,135 



204 



AGRICULTURE. 



Agricultural Productions of Mississippi in 1849. 



COUNTY. 


Sweet 


Irish 


Peas and 


Butter 


Pounds 


Gallons of 




potatoes. 


potatoes 


beans. 


and claeese. 


of sugar. 


molasses. 


Adams 


35,220 


4,380 


12,847 


22,753 




480 


Amite 


111,335 




24,485 


42,607 






Atala 


112,153 


6,289 


2,190 


90,193 


120,000 


12 


Bolivar 


29,066 


2,042 


806 


15,732 






Choctaw 


88,674 


1,395 


18,479 


94,836 






Chickasaw 


111,815 


3,796 


12,789 


140,032 






Covington 


51,849 


1,043 


14,897 


23,642 




115 


Coahoma 


22,837 


2,621 


2,430 


35,150 






Copiah 


117,006 


10,858 


52,208 


73,720 


1,000 


1,110 


Claiborne 


83,854 


10,336 


65,217 


83,013 






Clark 


78,675 


280 


485 


50,476 






Carrol 


176,360 


6,393 


65,315 


139,965 






De Soto 


137,170 


16,846 


38,231 


191,175 






Franklin 


44,039 


1,208 


19,000 


23,190 






Green 


17,236 




780 


10,710 






Harrison 


19,395 


435 


735 


205 






Hancock 


33,925 


330 


1,070 


3,405 




750 


Hinds 


240,435 


18,711 


79,001 


114,327 


1,000 


1,680 


Holmes 


124,892 


10,319 


53,856 


131,968 






Itawamba 


105,692 


3,132 


20,166 


161,376 






Issaquena 


18,595 


1,829 


2,240 


23,535 






Jeiferson 


77,129 


10,635 


46,079 


85,874 






Jones 


32,615 


84 


4,660 


6,895 






Jasper 


78,945 


525 


1,821 


18,680 






Jackson 


29,669 


880 


2,389 


10,517 






Kemper 


175,960 




4,444 


187,175 






Lawrence 


66,139 


1,413 


12,413 


34,463 


2,000 


5,999 


Lafayette 


105,700 


7,620 


31,566 


180,430 






Leake 


46,534 


1,309 


3,957 


33,373 




140 


Lauderdale 


111,444 


3,765 


15,411 


69,922 






Lowndes 


98,418 


1,014 


6,439 


145,347 






Marion 


62,405 




22,340 


14,705 


4,000 


5,945 


Madison 


175,230 


9,806 


45,957 


111,481 






Monroe 


168,860 


6,481 


48,896 


117,500 






Marshall 


216,640 


21,513 


52,458 


278,540 






Noxubee 


96,035 


5,239 


4,345 


171,500 






Neshoba 


55,696 


1,034 


1,185 


40,050 






Newton 


58,047 


194 


2,292 


55,518 






Oktibbeha 


66,490 


2,262 


5,214 


66,658 






Pike 


64,040 


126 


6,841 


48,664 






Panola 


74,583 


6,933 


29,108 


95,283 


10,000 




Perry 


44,980 


270 


6,428 


16,000 


150,000 


230 


Pontotoc 


116,371 


2,297 


3,546 


130,030 







AGRICULTURE. 



205 



Agricultural Productions of Mississippi in 1849- 


—Continued. 


COUNTT. 


Sweet 


Irish 


Peas and 


Butter 


Pounds 


Gallons of 




potatoes. 


potatoes. 


beans. 


and cheese. 


of sugar. 


molasses. 


Eankin 


68,206 


1,467 


8,000 


54,034 






Smith 


46,450 


660 


3,527 


25,620 


100,000 


508 


Scott 


34,367 


35 


808 


14,008 






Simpson 


40,280 


672 


21,589 


26,143 




235 


Sunflower 


9,410 






5,655 






Tishemingo 


73,990 


9,566 


8,578 


132,900 






Tunica 


7,270 


2,768 


368 


8,855 






Tallahatchie 


38,052 


3,836 


9,703 


29,164 






Tippah 


125,675 


7,915 


9,484 


216,464 






Winston 


87,173 


2,213 


8,901 


100,869 






Washington 


22,315 


10,000 


13,433 


17,710 






Warren 


71,374 


20,630 


23,319 


88,664 






Wilkinson 


33,727 


740 


13,069 


10,965 






Wayne 


37,605 






7,510 






Yazoo 


128,272 


10,014 


41,140 


59,633 






Yellobusha 


135,424 


5,263 


65,824 


173,901 




200 



ige207 



Si 









£ 



lerti^irr 



Orgace^fu* 



^o&lir 



/iff/'iTi^- 



"^^-^^Zl^I^S^SS^:^^ 



fe^. 



"^^^^^^mw^^F^^: 



/<a/i^n^reM 



Silu/7/xn 



300 
.900 

/L50 

/ooo 

.^00 

300 
3000 




^^ird Schist 




Systran 




73^0 



7o,ooa 



Plate IX 

^M-r^ fr 3y<>n^- 



(hnirfif 



GEOLOGICAL STRATA 



See pa6e 2.07 



B.L CWtllES OEL 



LN ROSCMTIIALS CROMO J.f»H P«IL 



lY. GEOLOGY. 



INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 

Addressed, as the present report is, mainly to those 
engaged in agricultural pursuits — a class which, how- 
ever intelligent or educated, it is no disparagement to 
suppose, in common with many others, not deeply 
versed in the principles of geology, or conversant with 
its teachings— a familiar style, and an avoidance of 
technicalities as far as practicable, will obviously be 
regarded as most appropriate. 

Whilst scientific details will, therefore, in a great 
measure, be omitted, explanations will, to some extent, 
be unavoidable, which, to the well-read and practised 
geologist, would seem commonplace and unnecessary. 

This earth is not composed, as some may suppose, of 
a heterogeneous and chance agglomeration of rocks and 
minerals ; but these are found distributed through the 
different strata with an order and consistency that indi- 
cates design, and a conformity with fixed laws. 

These laws, properly understood, present the only safe 
guide to those who engage in exploring the earth's crust 
for its treasures. 

Apart from the speculations as to the composition of 



208 GEOLOGY. 

the earth's centre, of which, practically, we know 
nothing, the investigations of geologists as to its exterior 
coating or crust, so far as it can be explored, have re- 
sulted in establishing, out of several different systems 
that have been proposed, certain principal divisions, 
separated by such striking differences of character as to 
be easily distinguished, and which for convenience it 
has been found desirable to adopt. 

These are composed of groups of allied or analogous 
strata, supposed to have been produced under similar 
circumstances and about the same epoch, and are desig- 
nated in general terms, as the Primary, the Secondary, 
and the Tertiary formations ; and, although they have 
become less adequate to represent the present state of 
geological knowledge, are sufficiently definite for the 
present purpose. 

The Primary is composed of the primitive, earliest 
existent, or Tiypogene rocks, so called, as being formed 
most remote from the surface. 

They are of a crystalline structure, and are referred 
to an igneous origin, and, so far as known, are desti- 
tute of organic remains, indicating a commencement 
anterior to that of animal or vegetable existence. 

The Secondary succeeds in the ascending order, and 
is composed of marine and fresh-water deposits. Arena- 
ceous, argillaceous, and calcareous rocks form the prin- 
cipal masses, and are associated with beds of chert, 
ironstone, and coal. The strata of this formation are 
characterized by innumerable organic remains of fish, 
mollusca, Crustacea, &c., belonging wholly to extinct 
species, and especially by numerous and gigantic forms 
of saurian reptiles, indicating that the portion of the 
earth which, during this period, had emerged above the 
surface of the waters, was too frequently subject to in- 



GEOLOGY. 209 

undations and atmospheric irregularities to be occiipiedj 
to much extent, by a higher order of beings. 

With this period, also, two distinct assemblages of 
terrestrial plants appear to have flourished and become 
extinct, embracing the flora of the Carboniferous era. 
With the cretaceous system (including the Maestricht 
beds), which sometimes connects it with the succeeding 
formation, ends the series of deposits which are ranked 
as strata of the Secondary period of geology. 

The Tertiary formation comprehends all those varied 
stratiform deposits, more recent than the Secondary, 
which underlie the modern group, and are characterized 
by distinct species of fossil animals and plants ; present- 
ing the striking feature of repeated alternations of 
marine deposits and those of fresh water. 

During this period, there appears to have been a con- 
stantly increasing provision for the diffusion of animal 
life. Its most ancient deposits contain organic remains 
related to those of the Secondary period, and the most 
recent contain many existing species of animals asso- 
ciated with forms now extinct. 

Mr. Lyell has subdivided the Tertiary into the 
Eocine, the Meocine, and the older and the newer Plio- 
cene, founded on the relative proportions of the extinct 
and recent species of shells which they contain. In 
these divisions are found also the unconsolidated rocks, 
such as the sands, clays, and marls, as well as lignites 
and conglomerates. 

Above these principal divisions we have the Quater- 
nary, embracing the modern group " to which belong all 
those formations now completed, or in progress, upon 
the face of the earth or in its waters, which contain the 
remains of man, or of his works, or the remains of 
14 



210 GEOLOGY. 

plants or animals of existing species, unmixed with any 
that are extinct." 

Some geologists include under the Quaternary division 
some of the upper strata of the Tertiary; but in a more 
restricted and accepted sense, it will be used here to 
comprehend only the Post Pliocene deposits, and will 
include the modern diluvian or northern drift, which 
here separates the Modern group from the Tertiary ; the 
ferruginous sands and clays, presumed to have had a 
contemporaneous origin; the recent lacustrine marls, 
the series closing with the alluvium of the surface. 

The foregoing description will be better understood by 
referring to the section of geological strata represented in 
Plate IX., in w^hich, however, many of the subordinate 
strata, according to the different systems, have been 
omitted as not essential to the illustration. 

Although all the foregoing principal divisions or for- 
mations are found to exist in all the countries that have 
been geologically explored, it is not to be inferred that 
all the strata of which they are composed pervade the 
whole globe. Many of them, on the contrary, are absent 
in different countries, owing to the relative position of 
the earth's surface, and the distribution of land and 
water at the period of their deposition. They are repre- 
sented, therefore, in the order they assume in point of 
time, being governed by the mutations which the earth 
has undergone, and the paroxysms of upheaval and sub- 
sidence, more or less active and general, which, at remote 
and widely separated periods, have repeatedly occurred. 

But, although important strata, or even entire groups, 
may be missing or non-existent in some quarters, in none 
is their relative order inverted or transposed; but they 
maintain an undeviating succession consistent with the 



GEOLOGY. 211 

period of their formation; and thus it is that all minerals 
are not to be found or expected alike in all situations, or 
where the strata to which they properly belong do not 
and cannot in the nature of things, exist. 

The thickness of all the strata taken collectively, as 
estimated on the section before referred to, Plate IX., 
amounts to several miles. Now, as the deepest shaft 
yet sunk into the earth in mining operations is said not 
greatly to exceed half a mile, it may be asked how it is 
that geologists have arrived at a knowledge of so much 
of the earth's crust as they claim to have acquired ? 

If the different strata had remained undisturbed in 
the position in which they were first deposited, we must 
have remained forever ignorant, not only of the character 
and thickness of these strata, but of their very exist- 
ence. But, in those great convulsions which the earth 
has undergone, in the upheaval of entire and lofty 
mountain ranges, the pre-existent and superincumbent 
strata have been tilted up, dislocated, and inclined with 
their edges to the surface, as is represented in the section 
Plate X., Figure 1. 

This section will illustrate the fact that, in travelling 
over a country that has been so convulsed, across the 
strata, or in a direction from A to B, the different strata 
will be passed over successively as they appear upon the 
surface. 

Now suppose that, along this distance, a series of 
natural sections, such as the channels of streams or 
ravines, should occur at different intervals, or that at the 
points C, D, E, wells or shafts should have been sunk, 
these several strata would be revealed, and the dip or 
angle of inclination, ascertained, and consequently the 
thickness of each or of the whole from B to F might be 
readily determined. 



212 GEOLOGY. 

This is still more satisfactorily exhibited in the deeply- 
cut channels of rivers running in a direction transverse 
from that of the stra+a for many miles, which often 
occurs, by which the whole may be distinctly brought 
into view, in regular order, as represented in Plate X., 
Fig. 2. This is well exemplified in the Niagara River 
below the falls, as noticed by Mr. Lyell. 

Thus it is, by accumulating and collating such data, 
derived from various and distant quarters, aided also by 
the chemical composition of the rocks and their imbedded 
fossils, that our knowledge of the structure of the earth 
is acquired. 

The geological structure of this State embraces the 
Quaternary and Tertiary formations, and merely enters 
upon the higher strata of the Secondary, including, 
perhaps, the equivalents of the msestricht beds, and to a 
limited extent those of the Cretaceous group. 

The name of this group is derived from the chalk 
which, in Europe, constitutes its prominent feature. Here 
it is characterized by yellow, ferruginous, and green 
sands, and micaceous shales, associated with and replaced 
by limestones, approaching to a chalky aspect, but afford- 
ing neither real chalk nor flints. 

Its thickness has been estimated as varying from three 
hundred to six hundred feet. 

Its organic remains are nearly all marine, and are en- 
tirely distinct from those of the Tertiary above. 

The older rocks of th^ Secondary and those of the 
Primary formation are not found at all in the State, ex- 
cept in the transported fragmentary pebbles and boulders 
of the diluvium or northern drift. 

With these preliminary explanations, which could not 
be more briefly stated, and which, however familiar to 
many, may be essential to a general understanding of 



GEOLOGY. 213 

the subject, I shall proceed to give a detailed statement 
of the rocks and minerals that have been observed, with 
reference to their character and position. 



LOESS, OR LOAM. 

A prominent and interesting feature, which distin- 
guishes the counties bordering upon the Mississippi 
below the Yazoo, is found in that considerable deposit 
superimposed on the diluvial gravel, and which enters 
into the more easterly range of counties only along the 
margins of the Homochitto, Big Black, and Yazoo Rivers. 
Its average width, on the east side of the Mississippi, 
does not exceed twelve miles, and it is not met with at 
all on the western side, at least below the high lands of 
Arkansas. 

In the escarpment of the Mississippi Bluffs, and in 
other natural sections, it is seen frequently of the thick- 
ness of fifty or sixty feet, thinning out as you recede 
from the river, until it is lost, and the red sands and 
pebbles on which it rests, appear upon the surface. 

European geologists describe it, under the name of 
Loess, or Lehm, "as an alluvial tertiary, sedimentary 
deposit, consisting of very fine, well-washed, yellow, 
calcareous loam, occurring over considerable tracts, and 
found reposing on every rock from the granite of Heidel- 
berg to the gravel on the plains of the Rhine." 

Here it has not the character of a local alluvium, and 
is probably due to the same causes that have spread the 
gravel and pebble deposits so widely over our surface. 

In March, 1846, being desirous of drawing the atten- 
tion of Mr. Lyell, then on a visit to this State, to this 
peculiar and interesting deposit, he accompanied me on 



^14 GEOLOGY. 

an excursion to one of the large ravines in Adams 
County, wliere it is exposed to the depth at least of fifty 
feet. Speaking of the result of this examination, in his 
travels subsequently published, he remarks that "the 
resemblance between this loam and the fluviatile silt of 
the valley of the Rhine, generally called Loess, is most 
perfect." 

Its imbedded fossils are chiefly bleached helices or 
snail shells, together with mammalian remains, hereafter 
to be noticed in detail, under the head of the Palaeon- 
tology of the State. 

At every bluff on the Mississippi, from Fort Adams 
to the Yazoo, and in the hills in the rear, this loam is 
seen, and the roads leading into the interior cut into it 
deeply and expose it on every hand. 

On the declivities of the hills bordering the Yazoo, 
and its tributaries on the east, it is frequently seen and 
has been observed in the bluffs at Memphis, but much 
diminished in thickness of the deposit. 

Its highly calcareous properties, its abundance, distri- 
bution, and locality, entitle it to a further notice, which 
it will receive among our other Marls. 



SANDSTONE— DAVION ROCK. 

Among the few consolidated rocks which our Alluvio- 
Tertiary formations afford, susceptible of use as building 
materials, we have three or four varieties of limestones, 
and sandstones of as many aspects. 

The Davion Rock of Fort Adams is an argillo-silicious 
composition, of a dingy white color in the mass, contain- 
ing a small proportion of sand, cemented together and 
tinged by a brownish-red metallic oxide, which pervades 



GEOLOGY. 215 

it in irregular and distorted veins, and which, forming 
the hardest portions of the mass, gives the weathered 
surface a very rough and nodular character. 

It is traced in a direction north of east, and is seen 
cropping out at the crossing of the Natchez and Wood- 
ville road, in Section 8, Township 2, Range 2 West. 

Beyond this, continuing in the same general direction, 
its character becomes gradually modified, being much 
more silicious and uniform in character, and freer from 
the oxide; the iron it contains consisting of an incon- 
siderable amount of pyrites, in small detached nodules. 

Occurring in considerable beds five or six miles north- 
east of Woodville, of a quality supposed to be suitable 
for building purposes, considerable tracts of the govern- 
ment lands on which it was situated were entered about 
twenty years since, and some quarries were opened, and 
the stone used to a small extent in Woodville and the 
vicinity. These quarries have never been regularly 
worked, and are now, from some cause, rarely resorted to. 

Crossing the Homochitto near Wilson's Ferry, the 
ledge is intersected by the Natchez and Liberty Road in 
Franklin County, on or near Section 47, Township 5, 
Range 1 E. The more compact and arenaceous portion 
of the stratum is here about three feet in thickness, with 
about the same thickness, above and below, of the more 
argillaceous and crumbling material, which, in wet 
weather, forms a very tenacious white pasty clay, ren- 
dering this a very formidable pass to the wagoners on 
the road, who have given to the ridge on which this 
ledge runs the name of the DeviVs Backbone. 

This rock seems not to be continuous or traceable 
more than ten or fifteen miles further in this direction, 
and is found of its best quality at Dixon's Quarry, Sec- 
tion 40, Township 6, Range 2 E., between Well's Creek 



216 GEOLOGY. 

and Morgan's fork of the Homochitto. It was here that 
the stone used about the arches and for the lintels of 
the windows in the Catholic church in Natchez was ob- 
tained. 



GRAND GULF SANDSTONE. 

The next and only other point at which the sand- 
stone appears on the banks of the Mississippi, is at 
Grand Gulf in Claiborne County. Here it presents an 
entirely different aspect from that at Fort Adams. 

Specimens of this rock, superior in hardness to granite 
itself, have attracted the attention of mineralogists by its 
anomalous character, and resemblance to some of the 
primitive rocks, and the appearance which it sometimes 
presents of having been subjected to igneous action. 

It is variable in color and texture, many specimens 
having the appearance of aggregated grains of coarse, 
angular, black and bluish sand incorporated in a matrix 
of a white porcelain or enamel-like character, and ap- 
proaching to a fine brexia in its composition — a quality 
which has occasioned it to be spoken of frequently, in 
common parlance, SiS jpeirijied rock. 

The range of this rock is between the Big Black Eiver 
and the Bayou Pierre (on both sides of the latter in 
some localities), and extending eastwardly to the vicinity 
of Raymond and the Mississippi Springs, near which it 
occurs of a softer and more uniform character or texture, 
and from whence that employed in the basement and 
pavements of the State House at Jackson was obtained. 

It is still quarried for building purposes there, and at 
different points in its course. One house has been seen 
built wholly of it, obtained on the Bayou Pierre. 



GEOLOGY. 217 

It has been found a convenient material for the 
foundations of houses and the construction of chimneys, 
and in early times it was frequently used in the neigh- 
borhood for mill-stones. The abutments of the new 
bridge at Grindstone Ford, on the Bayou Pierre, are built 
of it quarried on the spot, and at Grand Gulf it has been 
freely used in paving the streets or side-walks. 

This rock presents itself in mass in the escarpment of 
the bold promontory on the Mississippi, about a mile 
below the mouth of the Big Black River, and immedi- 
ately above the town of Grand Gulf, against which the 
current of the river sets in full force, and by which it is 
deflected by its effective resistance in such a manner as 
to create the extensive and formerly dangerous whirl- 
pool or eddy which gave name to the place. 

At many points within the scope I have mentioned, 
this rock crops out in the beds of the watercourses, and 
upon the sides of the ridges, exhibiting, as in that in the 
Mississippi bluff, such an identity of character as to in- 
duce me to characterize it wherever met with as the 
Grand Gulf rock. 

On the Tallahaly, a branch of the Bayou Pierre, near 
Colonel Dabney's, Township 4, Range 3 W., in Hinds 
County, it is abundant, and has been freely used for the 
foundations and chimneys of negro quarters in that 
neighborhood. 

At the Mississippi Springs, the attendant clays, or 
decomposed portions of the imperfectly formed rock, are 
very similar to those of the Backbone in Franklin County, 
before mentioned. 

The course of this ledge seems arrested at this point 
by the limestone intervening between it and Pearl River, 
and which seems to range from the lime quarry of Mr. 



218 GEOLOGY. 

Marshall to that formerly worked by Mr. Long, about 
eight miles south of Jackson. 

The sandstone, it is presumable, takes a more southerly 
range, passes under Pearl Kiver into Eankin, where it 
probably forms the natural pavement which has attracted 
much notice as a supposed work of art. 

Slabs of this sandstone, very similar to those described 
in Rankin County, have been seen in considerable quan- 
tity, both detached, and resting in their native beds on 
the White Oak, a considerable tributary of the Bayou 
Pierre in Copiah County. 

These were about five inches in thickness, of a smooth 
even surface, separated into rather regular angular forms, 
the under side only being uneven and cellular, from rest- 
ing on the diluvial gravel on which it lies. 

Several extensive ranges of similar rock occur in 
Atala County, having a direction from N.E. to S.W. It 
is of more uniform texture, finer grit, and greatly harder 
and more durable, than that of any other deposit ob- 
served. 

Considerable quantities of massive sandstone is found 
near Rocky Ford in Pontotoc County, on- both sides of 
the Tallahatchie. 

Of the other sandstones noted, I have to mention that 
in the forks of the Chilly Creek in Section 35, Township 
4, Range 1 E., in Tippah County. The rock designed 
for the Washington Monument, contributed by the State, 
was procured here, and sent to Natchez to be cut by the 
sculptor, Mr. E. Lyon, and rejected as too hard and cel- 
lular. It is a silicious coralline rock, of extreme hard- 
ness, partially agatized. From the description given me 
by Mr. Campbell, who was employed in getting it out, 
it was probably one of a group of houlders or erratic 
blocks, the whole not extending beyond a quarter sec- 



GEOLOGY. 219 

tion. I learned, however, from Mr. Tucker, wlio lives 
in the neighborhood, that there is another similar group 
on another stream in the same vicinity. 

About a mile east of Ripley, in the same county, I was 
shown a small bed of calcareous sandstone containing a 
variety of shells, among them the turretella and cere- 
thium, the latter of a large size, the cavities of the shells 
being frequently filled with a drusy spar. It is rather 
cellular, occasioned by the decomposition of the fossils, 
and contains some minute shark's teeth. It is probably 
the rock spoken of by some as a species of the millstone 
grit. 



FERRTJGINOTIS SANDSTONE— IRON". 

The most generally distributed form of silicious rocks 
is the iron sandstone in its various conditions. 

From the thin plates or sheets resembling pot metal, 
to the coarser and more massive forms, it is met with in 
most parts of the State. 

In several of the counties where this rock is conve- 
nient and abundant, and in blocks of sufficient dimen- 
sions, it has been used for the base or foundation of the 
court-houses and other public buildings, and occasionally 
chimneys have been constructed of it. 

On some of the head branches of Coles Creek, in 
Adams County, it is seen in considerable quantities. 

In Pike County, it is found a short distance below 
Holmesville, forming a bluff bank on Bogue Chitto, 
piled up to the height of ten or twelve feet. 

In Leake County, the road leading to Columbus crosses 
a considerable ridge, on which it abounds, as it does also 
near De Kalb, in Kemper County. 



220 GEOLOGY. 

It is seen in the eastern part of Lafayette County, on 
the road leading to Pontotoc. 

In Panola County, and in Tallahatchie County, it is 
of frequent occurrence. 

All the stone of this character, seen north of the Tal- 
lahatchie, exhibits more or less mica in its composition. 
The mica, not noticed south of this was also observed in 
the sands and clays in Marshall County. 

These are a few of the localities in which this Iron 
sandstone is most conspicuous. 

But I have nowhere met with it more massive and 
abundant than near Grenada in Yellobusha County. 
Some of the conical peaks of the hills are there covered 
or paved with it, in rounded mammillary and botroidal 
forms. 

Very frequently it occurs in the characters of a con- 
glomerate or pudding stone — a concrete formed of the 
rounded cherty pebbles of the drift, and either massive 
or in thin and widety spread sheets, the latter forming a 
species of hard pan, in which latter character it is found 
resting upon beds of Yellow Ochre, as at the base of the 
Natchez Bluffs, and again twelve miles below, at the 
White Cliffs on the Mississippi. 

At the latter point, this rock presents another cha- 
racter, and affords a rare exhibition of fulgorites on a 
magnificent scale; the tubes singly or grouped together 
in great masses, of large caliber and considerable length, 
resembling cannon or organ-pipes. These tubes, how- 
ever, are of many sizes, varying from an inch to a foot 
or more in diameter. 

A few miles north of Pdpley, in Tippah County, on a 
ridge where this ferruginous sandstone abounds, fulgo- 
rites, of a smaller size than those of the White Cliffs, are 
numerous, and appear to have been collected, with other 



GEOLOGY. 221 

fragments of the rock, and piled up so as to form a mound 
supposed to be one of the monumental tumuli of the 
aborigineSj and similar in character to the Cairns of 
Scotland. 

The formation of these fulgorites has been attributed 
to lightning. 

Under favorable circumstances, these ferruginous con- 
glomerates are continually forming. An old horseshoe, 
or any scrap of iron cast by chance in coarse sand or 
gravel, particularly if intermixed with soil containing 
calcareous matter, soon forms a concrete, and illustrates 
the chemical affinity by which the particles coalesce. 

Iron, which enters largely into the composition of the 
matrix, at least, is one of the most generally diffused of 
all solid minerals. It forms a constituent part of many 
animal and vegetable substances, and is also deposited 
from chalybeate waters. 

And here, it may as well be mentioned in what other 
forms it is found to exist in the State. 

Besides the pisiform or argillaceous oxide occurring 
occasionally in certain soils in considerable amount, of 
no appreciable value, but rather a pernicious ingredient, 
injurious to most crops, the bog ore, which is attributed 
by mineralogists to vegetable depositions, exists in many 
situations, generally in the wet bottoms of watercourses, 
where the earth is of that whitish, tenacious description 
usually characterized as Crawfish land. It has been 
met with on the Amite, Pearl, and Leaf Rivers, and 
doubtless exists in many similar situations. That on 
Leaf River is said, by a gentleman practically ac- 
quainted with the subject, to compare favorably with 
similar ore worked in New Jersey. 

A mile or two west of the residence of Mr. Frederick 
Braugher, in Tippah County, a conglomerate or pudding- 



222 GEOLOGY. 

stone occurs, composed wholly of pisiform iron. The 
nodules, formed of concentric layers, are of more than 
the ordinary size. 

Iron ore of different character, and of good quality, is 
said to be sufficiently abundant for profitable working, 
not far distant from De Kalb, on Section 34, Township 
10, Kange 17 E., in Kemper County, on the Paticfaw. 
I have not yet had an opportunity of visiting the lo- 
cality, and my information in regard to it amounts to 
this : that, being considered by an experienced iron- 
master, as superior to that which he had worked in 
Tennessee, he purchased the land, and a company was 
chartered by the Legislature of this State for working 
the ore, some years since; but, from some cause not 
stated, the enterprise has not been carried into effect. 

A hydrated peroxide of iron termed limonite, is found 
in the talus of the Natchez Bluff. 

These limonites occur in round balls, or of more flat- 
tened ovoid forms, assuming sometimes varied and fan- 
tastic shapes. They rarely exceed five or six inches in 
diameter, and are generally much smaller. Whatever 
shape they may assume, or however irregular or con- 
torted, they are always hollow, the crust or shell in- 
closing either sands highly mineralized with sulphate of 
iron, or with ochrous earths generally of a red or yellow 
color, which impart a vivid tint to the interior surface 
of the shell. On one occasion, a crystal of gypsum, or 
selenite about two inches in diameter, was found in- 
closed in one of these. The exterior of the shell is 
generally of a rather dull brown, but the fracture ex- 
hibits a more lustrous and metallic aspect. 

These limonites are found in considerable numbers 
loose and detached, and are often in an entire condition 



GEOLOGY. 223 

as well as in broken fragments, seen agglutinated to- 
gether, and forming with the associated pebbles, the 
composition of the conglomerate of the locality. 



LIMESTONE. 

Limestone is not known to make its appearance on 
the Mississippi but at one point. 

At Vicksburg, it presents itself in the channel of the 
small stream bordering the city on the north, and in the 
face of the bluff is traceable for half a mile or more 
above. 

The stratum appears to repose upon a yellow marl, 
and to be divided by it into three layers of some three 
feet each in thickness, the whole including the inter- 
vening marl, not exceeding ten feet. 

The lower member of the stratum, which is of a bluish 
tint, affords an excellent material of variable thickness, 
not exceeding a foot, perhaps, in blocks of any extent. 

The upper members consist of a yellowish, imper- 
fectly formed, and perishable rock of little value. 

This rock is seen occasionally from Vicksburg, exposed 
along the Walnut Hills to Haynes's Bluff, or Old Fort 
St. Peter's on the Yazoo Kiver, and probably extends 
higher. 

Towards the interior, it crosses Big Black Eiver, and 
crops out at Steward's quarry, on the Jackson and 
Vicksburg Railroad, on Section 28, Township 6, Range 2 
W., in Hind's County, a few miles west of Clinton; 
also at Marshall's Quarry, on Section 17, Township 5, 
Range 1 W., near the Mississippi Springs. 

It occurs again at the former quarry of the late John 



224 GEOLOGY. 

Long, near Pearl Eiver, eight or nine miles south of 
Jackson. 

A cut on the railroad between Jackson and Brandon, 
on the plantation of Mr. Chambers, in Rankin County, 
also exposes the lime-rock, not, however, as at Mar- 
shall's or Steward's quarries, or at Vicksburg, in a con- 
tinuous and connected stratum, but rather as a congeries 
of angular disjointed blocks, variable in size and form, 
and rarely of dimensions suitable for building purposes, 
but well adapted for burning into lime. (See Plate XL, 

Fig. 1.) 

Besides the extensive use made of this rock in paving 
the streets of Vicksburg, it has been quarried near St. 
Peter's and taken to Yazoo City. 

It is also used by the marble cutters in Vicksburg, for 
monumental tablets, as well as for lintels, door-sills and 
steps, being considered as equal to any other limestone 
of this formation in the United States, ordinarily used 
for these purposes. 

On the recommendation of the late Edwin Lyon, the 
sculptor at Natchez, founded on the examination of speci- 
mens submitted to him, a block intended for the National 
Monument has been obtained from Steward's quarry, for 
the Grand Lodge of Mississippi. 

At this quarry, also, the stone used by the contractors 
for the Lunatic Asylum, in the construction of that 
building, was obtained, being regarded as greatly supe- 
rior to the sandstone used in the State House. 

The rock at Marshall's is of equally good character, 
but the facilities of transportation not being equal to 
those at Steward's (situated immediately on the railroad), 
Mr. Marshall converts his into lime. 

In the further prosecution of the geological survey. 



GEOLOGY. 225 

other beds of limestone, of equal value for building pur- 
poses, will doubtless be found in other quarters. 

Limestone of a different character, known commonly 
as the white, or rotten limestone, exists in immense de- 
posits, particularly in what is termed the prairie lands, 
in which it is met with frequently cropping out on the 
surface, but, from the deficiency of hardness, and an 
aptitude to decompose and fall to powder, by exposure 
to the atmosphere, is rather to be classed as an indurated 
marl, than a consolidated rock. 

Experiments in building have been made with some 
of the most compact and harder descriptions of this rock, 
which although readily cut into blocks in the moist state 
in the quarry by the ordinary cross-cut saw, was found 
to harden when properly dried, and some very imposing 
and extensive edifices were erected of it in St. Stephens, 
in Alabama, about the year 1818. It was found, how- 
ever, very liable to exfoliate and crumble from the effects 
of damp and frost. 

Whether this can be prevented, and if an exterior 
coating of hydraulic cement will remedy this defect, is 
perhaps, worthy of experiment. 

Less widely and more sparingly distributed, we find 
calcareous tufa, cla3^stones, or concretions, deposited by 
the calcareous, or hard water of some of our springs 
percolating through the marly soil. 

Of the latter character, in nodular or cylindrical forms, 
it is associated with all of our newer marls. 

Lime, in the form of a sulphate or selenite, has been 
revealed in the cut of the railroad near Clinton, in Hinds 
County, occurring in flattened crystals with pointed ends, 
sometimes several inches in diameter, and in vertical 
plates seaming the gypseous marl of the locality. 

Crystals of selenite have also been found ten or fifteen 
15 



226 GEOLOGY. 

feet below the surface, in digging cisterns, about half a 
mile northeast of the State House, in Jackson. 

At Ball Prairie, about six miles west, selenite is abun- 
dant on the surface. 

Agaric mineral, or mountain milk, occurs in the 
fissures and seams of all the lime-quarries before men- 
tioned, and when first exposed, is of the appearance and 
consistency of newly-mixed plaster of Paris in small 
portions, but soon acquires great hardness. 



CLAYS, OCHKEOUS EARTHS, AI^D SANDS. 

Considerable deposits of potter's clay are found in 
many situations. 

That in the bluff at Natchez, and at the White Cliffs, 
twelve miles below, where it is abundant, has been tested 
at a pottery in Natchez, and found to be of a superior 
quality. 

A pottery is in operation in Marshall County, and one 
was formely established at Brandon. There are doubt- 
less others in the State, there being no deficiency of 
material for their supply. 

A fine description of a very white plastic clay, of uni- 
form texture, and well adapted for modelling, is also 
found at the "White Cliffs, in Adams County, in Wilkin- 
son County, and elsewhere. 

A medallion, modelled by Mr. Lyon, the late sculptor, 
in Natchez, from a specimen furnished him, and which 
was obtained on the lands of Dr. Holt, in the suburbs of 
Woodville, is deposited in the State Cabinet at Jackson, 
with other specimens in the crude state, as well as seve- 
ral variegated and differently colored varieties obtained 
elsewhere. 



GEOLOGY. 227 

Yellow ochre is also frequently found below the dilu- 
vial gravel, generally covered with a lamina of hard 
pan or thin crust of conglomerate, and sometimes con- 
taining iron in botroidal and dendritic forms. 

It occurs at the White Cliffs very pure and in large 
quantity, but is only exposed at extreme low water. 
During the embargo which preceded the war of 1812, 
two ships from Boston were loaded with it from that 
place. 

Used as a pigment, it combines readily with oil or 
water; and when burnt gives a lively red color. 

Oil the lands of Dr. White, Section 35, Township 3, 
Range 3 W, in Hinds County, my attention was called 
to a mineral earth occupying a spot of small extent on 
the surface, to which stock of all kinds resorted for the 
salts which it seems to contain, and which they lick or 
eat freely, and all with impunity except the hog, which 
is said to be destroyed by the use of it. 

Dr. White has observed that it has the effect of chang- 
ing the skin of the hog to a red color; that the carrion 
crow seems to reject the carcass, which resists putrefac- 
tion to a considerable degree, and dries up, and cures, as 
animal matter is said to do in some parts of Mexico. 

Other deposits of similar character have frequently 
been met with of limited extent. They are generally 
entirely destitute of vegetation, and in their natural 
state neither corn nor cotton will grow upon them. 

The application of cotton seed and a crop of pea vine 
renders them temporarily productive, and the growing 
crop, when so improved, has been observed to resist the 
drought in a remarkable degree. 

Many of our streams are characterized by the great 
deposit of fine white sand which they afford. 

Pearl, Leaf, and Chickasaw Rivers, in some parts of 



228 GEOLOGY. 

their course, are of this character, as well as some of the 
minor streams in the western counties. 

The different branches of Cole's Creek, in the Counties 
of Jefferson and Adams, are remarkable in this respect ; 
and the crossing of them is rendered difficult and danger- 
ous after the occurrence of every freshet, in consequence 
of the extensive beds of quicksands in their channels. 

Sand for building purposes, is to some extent a mer- 
chantable commodity, and is supplied in New Orleans 
from Ellis Cliffs. 

These cliffs are some two miles or more in extent, 
and about two hundred feet high, presenting in some 
parts perpendicular sections of pure sand and clays. 
Boats continually ply from that point, and gangs of 
hands are continually engaged in loading fiats for the 
New Orleans market. 

One contract for sand from the White Cliffs, for the 
Custom-house in New Orleans, amounted to upwards of 
twenty-eight thousand dollars, and in this connection it 
may be mentioned that several boat-loads of pebble and 
conglomerate were obtained from the talus of the 
Natchez Bluffs for the foundation of the same building, 
and for that of the State House in Baton Rouge. 

Taking the State at large, the ferruginous sand depo- 
sits greatly predominate; they are seen on the Missis- 
sippi only at Fort Adams overlying the diluvial gravel. 
They spread widely over the County of Wilkinson, and 
are exposed in heavy deposits in every ravine or natural 
section, associated with the plastic clays, conglomerate, 
and gravel ; passing thence eastwardly through Amite, 
Pike, and Marion Counties. 

They can be traced almost uninterruptedly east of 
Pearl River from the sea-shore to the Tennessee line, 
intervening, as it were, between the prairie lands and 



Pa.bt 229 



SECTION on BRANDON RAIL ROAD 



Plate Xli 




^. Tig I. 




M B^ JT. 




Hg 



TIT 




P.RlVER 



Brandon 



SECTION from PEARL RIVER to BRANDON 



-] 



B.L CWAikCt oci. 



L NRottNTHAL'S CROMO LlTN. pHILUPf 



GEOLOGY. 229 

the western alluvium. Sections on the railroad near 
Brandon are given in Plate XII., Figs. 2 and 3. 

It would be tedious and unnecessary to enumerate all 
the localities where these deposits have been encountered 
in force. The following are some of them : — 

On the shore of Lake Borgne a few miles west of 
Shieldsborough. In Hancock County, seventeen miles 
north of Habolochitto Bridge. In the northwest corner 
of Perry County, near Leaf River. In Marion County, 
west of Pearl River, four miles from Columbia. Near 
Col. Dabney's, Township 4, Range 3 W., Hinds County. 

Three miles east of Hooper's Ferry, on Pearl River, 
in Leake County, on the road to Tacinto Post-office. 
Near De Kalb, in Kemper County. About seven miles 
south of Macon, in Noxubee County. Near Grenada, 
Yellobusha County. Near Pontotoc, and a few miles 
west of Ripley, in Tippah County. 

In sinking wells at Oxford and other places, the sand 
encountered at some depth often presents delicate roseate 
and lilac tints. 



MARLS OR MINERAL FERTILIZERS. 

The term marl is often very vaguely applied by dif- 
ferent writers ; and the names variously given to the 
mineral substances sometimes used as renovators of the 
soil, do not always convey a clear idea of their distinctive 
character or properties. 

In Europe, a non-calcareous earth is used as clay- 
marl; and slate-marl, gypseous marl, bituminous or fetid 
marl, and variegated marl, &c., are frequently spoken of; 
the latter, a marbled earth containing sulphate of iron, 
and certainly very unfit to be used as a marl, however it 
may be called. 



230 GEOLOGY. 

The green-sands of New Jersey, from being similarly 
applied, have come to be classed by many among the 
marls, although, when pure, possessing no calcareous 
properties. 

Shell marl seems too indefinite a term, as the marls of 
this character are various, and may belong either to the 
secondary or tertiary formations, or have a marine or 
fresh-water origin ; the marine shell-marls themselves 
differing essentially in their qualities. 

Properly speaking, marl consists of calcareous and 
argillaceous earth combined in various proportions ; and, 
as the former or latter prevails, so is it beneficially em- 
ployed on clays or sands. 

Mr. Ruffin, than whom no one is more familiar with 
the calcareous fertilizers of our country, and who from 
his close and extended observations both in Virginia and 
South Carolina, is the most competent authority on the 
subject, in view of the confusion which has existed, 
adopts, in his application of the term, " any compound 
or mixture of earths of which carbonate of lime in any 
form constitutes either the sole or chief value as manure, 
and is in such large proportion as to be of important 
value, and of which compound the mass is soft enough 
to be excavated and broken down with ordinary digging 
utensils." 

The application of marl as a stimulant of the soil, is 
of very ancient date, the use of it being mentioned by 
Pliny, and other ancient Latin writers, as highly benefi- 
cial in its effects; a.nd clays and marls have been long 
and extensively used for this purpose, in England and 
elsewhere. 

In the United States, marls have been freely applied 
in New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia; and 
more recently, and to less extent, in South Carolina and 
other States. 



GEOLOGY. 231 

In New Jersey,- the green-sand Marls, so called by 
Professor H. D. Rogers, have been in use for more than 
forty years. 

As the green-sand has been discovered to exist under 
"various geological relationships," besides those it pre- 
sents in New Jersey, as it does in Virginia, Maryland, 
and Delaware, and having recognized its ' presence in 
this State associated with the tertiary marls and the 
sulphate of lime, I am inclined to follow the example of 
Professor Eogers, in his report on the Geology of New 
Jersey, and to embrace those substances among our 
marls, giving the term a wider acceptation than that to 
which it is restricted by Mr. Ruffin, as not only locally 
more convenient, but as sanctioned by popular usage 
and understanding, as comprehending all those mineral 
substances or compounds, commonly applied to the soil 
with a view to its greater productiveness, and not re- 
quiring previous preparation, such as the burning to 
lime or grinding into plaster. 

I propose, therefore, for the present, and until further 
researches and developments may render a different ar- 
rangement expedient, to consider our Marls as consti- 
tuting the following varieties: — 

1. Lake Marl. — That found in limited lakelike de- 
pressions; the beds of former lakes or ponds of an 
origin either preceding or subsequent to the diluvial 
period ; and which is characterized by the fresh-water 
shells, described under the head of Palseontology, in- 
cluding Planorbis, Cyclas, Paludinas, Lymnsea, &c. 

2. Diluvial Marl, or the Loess ; a finely comminuted, 
pulverulent, silt-like loam, containing thirty per cent, or 
more of carbonate of lime, the shells, which are nu- 
merous, being exclusively terrestrial, embracing many 
species of helices or snails. 



232 GEOLOGY. 

3. Marine Marl — such, as that at Vicksburg — varying 
somewhat in character in different localities, but all in- 
cluding marine shells, with specific distinctions, but of 
allied genera. 

4. Gypseous Marl — such as those near Clinton and 
Jackson, in Hinds County — containing crystallized gyp- 
sum or selenite, and resembling somewhat in appearance 
the chocolate-colored green-sand marls described in New 
Jersey. 

5. The tertiary green-sand marl — as existing at Jack- 
son — containing an immense quantity of shells of the 
eocene period, differing from those at Vicksburg, and in- 
cluding species that are new and undescribed. 

6. The Indurated Marl — the white or rotten limestone 
so called, found chiefly in the prairie region — of a pale 
blue color when first dug out in its moist state, below 
the surface, but which bleaches and crumbles to powder 
by exposure to atmospheric action. 

7. The Cretaceous Marls of the Tombigbee and its 
tributaries, varying in character, and containing, in 
some of the beds, more or less green-sand, and charac- 
terized by fossils of the cretaceous group. 

It will be seen, in the chapter on analysis, that few of 
these marls have been chemically examined, and the 
reasons have before been stated. As yet, they have re- 
ceived little attention from our planters; and I can 
learn of very few experiments which have been made 
with them. 

As these will probably become of much value here- 
after, and exert an important influence upon the agri- 
cultural prosperity of the State, it will not be considered 
out of place to quote, from Professor Rogers's report on 
New Jersey, a description of some of the properties, 
and the value and effect of some of these marls in that 



GEOLOGY. 233 

State, in order that those interested in the matter may 
be induced to introduce them into use here. 

Dr. Emmons, who was connected with the agricultural 
department of the New York survey, made analyses, 
several years since, of some of our marls sent him for 
that purpose, and in giving the results in his Quarterly 
Journal of Agriculture, published at Albany, he re- 
marks, "that from these examinations it would appear 
that the South is really rich in fertilizers, and that there 
is no necessity for her lands becoming poor and barren ; 
and of one of the specimens analyzed, he adds, that it 
will be found a valuable fertilizer, as it contains almost 
half the amount of potash which the green-sands of 
New Jersey do, that are so remarkable for giving fertility 
to the exhausted lands of that State." 

The improvement of the soil produced by the marls 
in New Jersey is said, by Professor Kogers, to be very 
permanent, changing the natural growth from Indian 
and other grasses to white clover. They have been 
very profusely applied in some parts of that State, one 
hundred loads or even more to the acre, being no 
unusual dressing. 

The chief value and usefulness of the green-sand is 
ascribed to the potash, which is always present and 
essential in some proportion to its composition. Its 
astonishing potency has been shown by the luxuriant 
harvests derived from fields wholly uncongenial to vege- 
tation, by the application of sea-beacJi sand, a substance 
still more arid than the soil itself, but which contained 
a very small proportion of the alkaline granules dis- 
seminated very sparingly through it. 

Twenty loads of marl per acre, may be regarded as a 
bountiful dressing, and marling at a cost of five dollars 
per acre has been considered equivalent in its effects to 



234 GEOLOGY. 

the apjDlication of barnyard manure, at a cost of two 
hundred dollars. 

A marl is inentioned by Professor Kogers, as contain- 
ing less than sixty per cent, of green-sand, which had 
the disadvantage of a slight impregnation of sulphate of 
iron or copperas, and he states that the privilege of 
digging it at the pits sold readily at thirty-seven and a 
half cents per load. It was largely transported in 
wagons to a distance of twenty miles, and retailed at the 
rate of ten cents or more per bushel. 

In respect to calcareous marls, they generally require 
some time, after their application to land, to become 
effectual J they are best spread on the surface before 
winter, leaving them to be acted upon by the rain, frost, 
and air, before ploughing in. They are most advan- 
tageously applied to land when in grass, and are im- 
proved by repeated harrowing and rolling. 

They should be applied cautiously to clay lands. 
Sandy lands will bear a larger quantity. , 

Some consider that the best mode of using marls is to 
form a compost of it with alternate layers of stable- 
manure, or of marsh muck, peat, or other vegetable 
matter. 

In the application of marls, it is important to avoid 
those containing any astringent matter. Such are se- 
riously detrimental to the soil, and noxious to all vege- 
tation. 

This pernicious property may be distinguished by an 
acrid, inky taste, and by a white effloresence resembling 
frost which often overspreads the marl in dry weather 
when exposed for some time to the atmosphere ; this is 
generally sulphate of iron, derived from the decomposi- 
tion of pyrites in the associated clays. 

The intermixture of this deleterious inafredient in the 



GEOLOGY. 235 

marl is very obvious in that of the eocene beds at Vicks- 
burgy as seen in the frosted surface of the detritus form- 
ing the talus of the bluffs above the city, denoting the 
presence of copperas or vitriol. 

These may, however, be neutralized by the intermix- 
ture, in the compost heap, of a small proportion, about 
one per cent., of newly burnt and caustic lime thoroughly 
disseminated through the mass. 

Those who desire to try the effects of marl upon their 
lands, and have had no experience in such matters, can- 
not do better than to consult Ruffin's Essay on Cal- 
careous Manures, and his Report on the Agriculture of 
South Carolina. His great experience, his extended 
research, and withal his long-continued and success- 
fully conducted experiments with the marls of Virginia, 
have caused him to be looked upon in the light of a 
public benefactor, and procured for him recently a very 
complimentary election as an honorary member of the 
United States Agricultural Society, in consideration, as 
it was flatteringly announced, " of the incalculable bene- 
fits conferred by him upon the whole farming interest 
of Virginia by his genius and industrj^" 

The indurated marl, generally known as the rotten 
limestone^ is described by Dr. Troost, the late eminent 
geologist of Tennessee, as " having an earthy appear- 
ance, interspersed with minute particles of mica and 
grains of green-sand sometimes so small as to be per- 
ceptible only by the aid of the meignifying glass. 

" It is soft, and, when exposed to atmospheric influ- 
ence, disintegrates, crumbles to dust, and forms a more 
or less plastic paste with water. 

" When properly mixed with soil, it is very beneficial 
to agriculture. Of this fact, the farmers of Pennsylvania 
are well convinced, and hundreds of loads are taken 



236 GEOLOGY. 

from New Jersey where similar marl exists, to improve 
their farms. The same is the case with the farmers of 
Maryland, who send at great expense to the Eastern 
Shore for that substance." 

We possess inexhaustible stores of this marl in our 
State, but, the land being remarkable for its sterility 
where it most abounds and crops out upon the surface 
for want of the proper admixture of soil, it is not properly 
appreciated, or rather, it is regarded as a nuisance. 

Some of the railroads, now in progress in the eastern 
part of the State, will traverse the whole extent of this 
marl region, laying it open, and exposing it in every 
cutting where it is not already spread out upon the sur- 
face invitingly to view. 

When we reflect upon the great value of this material, 
applied in connection with the marsh muck, the pine 
straw, or the peat of the sandy flats of our southern 
border, is the expectation too extravagant that, at no 
remote period, we shall see the cars freighted with thou- 
sands of tons of this marl, wheeling it to the gulf shores 
to convert their arid wastes into garden spots of fertility 
and productiveness? 



COAL, OR LIGNITE. 

The great coal deposit lies between the two systems 
of rocks known as the Old and the New Ked sandstones, 
and the great mass of bituminous coal, susceptible of 
being profitably worked, is found below the latter. 

An inferior kind of non-bituminous coal, worked on 
the continent of Europe only to supply the local de- 
mand, is found in a newer group of rocks called the 
oolite. 



GEOLOGY. 237 

Lignite, or wood coal, partially carbonized, belongs to 
the tertiary strata ; it is considered by some as an im- 
perfect coal, not yet mineralized ; whilst others doubt 
whether it ever becomes true coal. 

There are several kinds, variously known as Bovey 
Coal, Erdkohle, Moor Coal, &c. ; these generally burn 
with a flame, but neither swell nor cake like the true 
coal. 

The foregoing is the language of different writers on 
geology. 

With this knowledge, and a recurrence to the expla- 
natory remarks which introduced this division of the 
present report, and a reference to the geological section 
. (Plate IX.), an inference maybe drawn as to the proba- 
bility of discovering this mineral in the State, and as to 
its character and quality if found. 

In the reconnoisance that has so far been made. Lig- 
nite has been found in many situations, and satisfac- 
torily ascertained to exist in others ; but as yet with 
no results as to character or position contradicting or 
impairing the evidences of geological research or of past 
experience. I am aware that different expectations 
have been entertained, and it would assuredly be very 
agreeable to me to have it in my power to announce a 
different conclusion. 

The most considerable deposit of lignite, by far, which 
has come under my observation, is that at Vicksburg. 
This I had a favorable opportunity of examining on the 
10th of October, 1852, owing to an unusually low stage 
of water in the Mississippi, it being rarely exposed to 
view. 

On that occasion, I measured five hundred yards on 
its surface, along the margin of the river, and obtained 



238 GEOLOGY. 

specimens of it for the cabinets at Jackson and Oxford, 
where they may be seen. 

When quite moist or newly taken from the water, it 
is quite sooty in its character, soiling the hands equally 
as much, and its whole appearance seemed to answer 
the description of the Erdkohle of Werner. Dried in 
the shade, it loses the smutty property in a considera- 
ble degree, and becomes comparatively compact ; exposed 
in a moist state to the sun, it flakes off and falls to 
powder. 

The bed forms the base to the talus of the river bluffs, 
and is of course covered to within a short distance of 
the water's edge, or to that portion of it recently swept 
by the current of the river, with the detritus which 
crumbles from the sides of the bluff, consisting in the 
inferior portion of the mass, of a dark brown shaly 
clay, saturated with sulphate of iron, resulting from the 
decomposition of pyrites, the clay being so highly 
charged with the mineral as to exhibit in dry weather a 
white efflorescence on the surface, resembling frost. 

Sharks' teeth, large oyster shells, madrepores, and the 
eocene shells of the formation washed from the upper 
strata, are intermixed and imposed upon the shale. 

The thickness of the bed I had no means of ascer- 
taining, no excavation having been made; the outer 
edge terminates abruptly, and the perpendicular face is 
washed by the river, which flows along the margin to a 
great depth. 

I observe that the proprietor of this bed, who resides 
in Virginia, is making arrangements for sinking a shaft, 
and testing its quality. 

All the other beds of lignite which I have observed, 
or the existence of which I have ascertained, are of a 
more recent formation, and lie above the Eocene. • 



GEOLOGY. 239 

That near the Big Black, Section 47, Township 13, 
Range 2 E., in Claiborne County, visited in June, 1852, 
reveals itself on the bluff bank of a small branch, about 
five feet above its bed, and some fifty feet below the 
general surface, filling a space of about two feet between 
two strata of the Grand Gulf sandstone. The horizontal 
range of its outcropping could not be traced more than 
thirty feet ; the deposit is quite compact, and has the 
appearance of decayed vegetable matter greatly com- 
pressed by the rock in which it is imbedded, and the 
superincumbent soil. 

Traces or impressions of water plants, or flags of in- 
ferior growth resembling blades of grass, are detected 
in it. 

The deposit on the lands of General Miles, near Clmla 
Lake, Section 7, Township 14, Range 1 E., in Holmes 
County, has been frequently spoken of by those who 
have seen it, and in favorable terms. I have not yet 
examined or procured specimens from it. 

In the same county, and not distant from this, is an- 
other bed on Funnigusha Creek, to the east of the cross- 
ing of the old road near Coconover's old stand. 

In Hinds County, Mr. Fairchilds informs me, that in 
sinking a well on Section 11, Township 4, Range 3 W"., 
he encountered a bed of considerable thickness, thirty- 
five feet below the surface. Similar deposits have been 
noticed by myself or others in the following localities : 
In Rankin County, near Partin's Ferry, on Pearl River. 
On Section 30, Township 11, Range 12 E., near Phila- 
delphia, Neshoba County. On Snow Creek, Section 7, 
Township 4, Range 1 E., seven miles south of Salem, 
in Tippah County; and at McElroy's mill on Turkey 
Creek, in Yellobusha County. 

Traces of lignite are also seen on the Homochitto, a 



240 GEOLOGY. 

few miles south of Meadville; in a small branch about 
a mile northeast from the State House at Jackson; and 
in a cut on the railroad, near Brandon, Eankin County. 
(See Plate XII. Fig. 2.) 



IRON PYRITES, GOLD, COPPER, AND LEAD. 

How frequently the discovery of gold and other valu- 
able metals has been authoritatively announced in the 
State may be remembered, perhaps, by those who have 
practised upon the credulity of the community in the 
form of a newspaper hoax, calculated to create a sensa- 
tion for a time, and most conveniently fill a vacant cor- 
ner in a paper which dearth of news, or want of other 
matter may have left unoccupied. 

Last year, an imposing statement, which went the 
rounds in the public prints, sent some hundreds to the 
pine hills in Marion County, to search for an imaginary 
placer. 

Just now, another discovery is sprung — the scene, a 
little removed to the neighboring County of Jackson ; 
and the most unmistahdble signs of the existence of gold 
are given, even to the width of the vein and dip of the 
stratum. 

Vein rock, properly so called, is not to be found, in 
all probability, within two hundred miles of the locality, 
and the formation of the district consists of loose and 
unconsolidated sand-clay and gravel. 

However abundantly diluvial gold sands m.a.y possihli/ 
exist, the veins and the dip, at least, are purely imaginary. 

The introductory explanations which have before been 
given, and again referred to, in the case of coal, apply 
equally here. 



GEOLOGY. 241 

Gold, silver, and copper belong properly to the pri- 
mary formation ; and the carboniferous limestone, that 
on which the coal measures repose, lying low down 
among the secondary strata, is the chief depository of 
lead. 

Gold, unlike silver, copper, or tin, is rarely met with 
in veins, but is disseminated in small quantities in the 
rocks in which it occurs, chiefly quartz. 

There is, therefore, but one deposit in the State, the 
diluvium or northern drift, in which any of these metals 
could be expected in the most limited and diffused parti- 
cles. Gold has been found in minute grains (exceedingly 
minute) in the quartose and agatized pebbles of that de- 
posit. 

Pyrites, that deceptive mineral which is generally 
found to be at the bottom of these reputed and delusive 
discoveries, is, on the contrary, generally diffused. It is 
found in rocks of all ages, and abundantly in those of 
the recent formations. 

It occurs in subglobular nodules in the cretaceous 
rocks, in the white limestone or indurated marl, the 
sandstone, and associated with the lignite of the tertiary. 

Its colors are chiefly bronze, brass yellow, and steel 
gray, and its structure is either capillary, cellular, hepa- 
tic, and radiated, of which latter character are the no- 
dules spoken of. 

Its composition is iron, 47.85, sulphur, 52.15; but as 
an iron ore, owing to the combination with the sulphur, 
it is worthless. 

That occurring in the primitive rocks contains a per- 
centage of gold sufficient to justify its separation, but in 
that of the recent formations gold is not to be expected. 

By different processes, sulphur, alum, and copperas 
are extracted from it; the two latter profitably, when 
16 



242 * GEOLOGY. 

found in large and convenient deposits; all the copperas 
of commerce, and much of the alum, being derived from 
this mineral. 

Exposed to the action of the atmosphere, it decomposes 
and falls to a black powder. 

The brilliant fracture of the nodular varieties, and 
their brassy or golden color, are well calculated to deceive 
the inexperienced, and it has, in consequence, received 
the popular sobriquet of ^^ fool's gold." 

When in charge of the Land Office, west of Pearl 
River, many years since, many tracts of the public lands 
were sold on the faith of this mineral; and frequently, 
when specimens brought to the office for exhibition were 
unwrapped, no little surprise was experienced by the 
deluded parties, to find the precious mineral reduced to a 
black powder, and the paper in which it was inclosed cor- 
roded and dropping into fragments from its caustic cha- 
racter. 

In June, 1852, it was stated, in a paper published in 
Louisiana, on the authority of a letter received there, 

" that a Mr. , living on Black Creek, in Marion 

County, had found a gold mine where he could get it hy 
the cartload, but concealed a knowledge of its locality. 
He was closely watched by numbers of people, but no 
clue had been obtained to guide them to the bed of trea- 
sure. It was further stated, that a company had left 
with the intention of camping out and searching for the 
gold." 

Happening to be at Columbia near the supposed local- 
ity two months after, I met with some of the persons 
interested in the discovery. The situation was still con- 
cealed, and supposing, as usual, the mineral found to be 
pyrites, stated my impression, and desired to examine a 
specimen, but none could be procured. 



GEOLOGY. Md 

All, I was informed, had been sent to the Mint at New 
Orleans, where I was assured it had been assayed and 
pronounced pure copper. • 

I learned, in conversation with different persons, who 
knew something of the matter, that the particles found 
v/ere of various sizes, from that of a small shot to that 
of the size and form of the "e^id of a mans thumbs 

It was said to have been picked out of the gravel on 
the side of a ridge, not in the bed of a creek. It had, 
it was said, the appearance of the droppings of melted 
metal, could be cut with the knife, was malleable, and 
emitted no sulphurous fumes in the furnace ; in short, 
had none of the distinguishing characters of pyrites. 

After the assay, the belief in gold was abandoned, and 
the copper hypothesis adopted. 

Some tradition of the neighborhood represented the 
discovery not to be a new one, and alluded to an old 
bell-maker of the vicinity, who, some twenty or thirty 
years before, had been in the practice of using it for the 
brazing of his bells. 

May these particles not have been the droppings from 
the brazier's furnace, of copper obtained in a more com- 
mercial way? 

A belief has been current in the country for more than 
forty years, that lead mines do exist in the State, and 
small fragments or cubes of galena have in that time 
been frequently picked up in various quarters. 

I have long been aware that such fragments have been 
found, associated with the Indian relics dispersed over 
the country and disin tombed from the burial-places of 
the aborigines, and have entertained the opinion, in com- 
mon with many others, that these were worn and re- 
garded to some extent in the light of amulets or orna- 
ments, and were buried among the cherished trinkets 



244 GEOLOGY. 

and other articles of personal property, with the dead 
body, as has been the practice of savage nations. 

There is sufficient proof existing in the character of 
some of these relics, that the Indians once occupying 
this region, both the Mound-builders, and those of more 
modern tribes which succeeded them, had an intercourse 
with the primitive regions of Arkansas and Missouri, 
where the crystalline rocks and galena abound, and that 
some of these have been fashioned into articles of orna- 
ment for personal decoration. 

It has not been my fortune to encounter the galena 
in other circumstances than the foregoing, but evidence 
that I cannot discredit, as to its existence in many sit- 
uations in larger quantities than can be reasonably 
accounted for in this way, leads me to attribute its 
presence to diluvial action. If the first mode of transpor- 
tation is inadequate to account for it, none other than 
this seems to remain. 

A consideration of the force and energy of this agency, 
in connection with the northern drift or diluvium so 
called, hereafter treated of, and the materials unques- 
tionably borne hither by its power, will probably satisfy 
the most incredulous that it was adequate to transport 
all the lead that can be found in the State. 

This conjecture is strengthened by the fact that in 
those localities where it is said most to abound — that is, 
in Lawrence, Noxubbe, and Tippah counties — it is 
represented as occurring in intimate association with the 
cherty pebbles, the well-known detritus of the drift 
period. 

Among the localities in which the galena has been 
found may be instanced the White Cliffs, and St. 
Catherine, in Adams County; on the Bayou Pierre, in 
Claiborne County; near Lauderdale Springs; near Phila- 



GEOLOGY. 245 

delphia, Neshoba County; in Lawrence County, twelve 
miles east of Monticello, on the head of Dry Creek; in 
Kemper County, Section 34, Township 10, Range 17 
E., twelve miles from De Kalb; and in Tippah County, 
a few miles northwest from Ripley. 



DILUYIIJM, OR NORTHERN DRIFT. 

All diluvial action, of which we have evidence at 
different geological eras, was formerly referred to one 
violent and transitory period, and that attributed to the 
Noachian deluge ; and hence the term diluvium, which 
was first applied by Dr. Buckland to all the superficial 
beds of gravel, clay, and sand on the surface of the earth ; 
in the distribution and rapid accumulation of which, and 
the distinctive and foreign character of the materials 
deposited, we have proof of a violent irruption of water. 

Although this hypothesis has been long abandoned, 
and the theories once entertained in reference to the 
phenomena of drift greatly modified, the term is still 
retained, but usually coupled and connected with others, 
conforming more in their signification to the present 
views entertained on the subject. 

These deposits are referred to now as the Erratic block 
group, the Boulder formation, and the Northern drift, 
and are attributed to the most recent of the series of 
Cataclysms which have left their impress upon the 
globe. 

The enormous size of many of the erratic blocks and 
boulders, the astonishing distances the pebble and smaller 
detritus have been transported, the mode of their dis- 
tribution, and the eminences on the earth's surface which 
they have surmounted, indicate a force, or power em- 



246 GEOLOGY* 

ployed in producing these effects, surpassing in energy 
any physical process now in action. 

Some, however, yet maintain a belief in a more tran- 
quil and gradual accumulation, by causes now operating 
with existing intensities. 

As there are doubtless many who have not investi- 
gated this subject very thoroughly, or have made them- 
selves familiar with the various theories that have been 
advanced, it may be as well to state that the transporta- 
tion of the materials composing the diluvial beds is now 
generally attributed to the combined action of ice and 
water. 

It has been said that investigations into the character 
of the drift have been too much neglected, and that the 
accumulation of facts connected with it, where circum- 
stances favor the examination, is highly desirable. 

Constituting an important and very interesting fea- 
ture in the geology of the State, the character, composi- 
tion, and distribution of the deposit will be here noticed. 
The reader can adopt his own hypothesis, as to its origin 
and the agent of transportation. 

These deposits include the clay, sand, and gravel, con- 
taining existing species of testacea, and the remains of 
extinct mammalia. 

The loam, or loess, before spoken of, and again re- 
ferred to as a diluvial marl, is of course embraced, as 
affording no proofs of long submergence, but on the con- 
trary many of rapid accumulation. This is evident 
in the character and dispersion of its fossils through the 
stratum, and in its homogeneous character ; for it is dif- 
ficult to suppose it to have preserved that aspect if formed 
by the inconceivably slow process of deposition as river 
silt ; a process, according to the calculation of eminent 
geologists, taking the ascertained rate of deposition of 



GEOLOGY. 247 

the Mississippi River at the present day as the basis of the 
calculation, requiring tens of thousands of years to 
accomplish ; during the whole of which extended cycle, 
therefore, some dozen existing species of helices, which 
we find distributed from the lowest to the uppermost 
portions of the deposit, would seem to have constituted 
the almost exclusive fauna of the earth subject to have 
been drifted into it. 

It seems more reasonable to imagine it to have been 
swept from the surface of pre-existing land, teeming at 
the time, with these terrestrial testacea, by the drift with 
which it is found associated. 

Having no rocks in place here susceptible of retaining 
the scratching or grooving made by the moving block in 
passing over them, as in the more Northern States, and 
by which the direction of the drift has been determined, 
we have here to conjecture the course from the position 
of the ijossihle original localities of the transported detri- 
tus, and the direction of the mountain ranges from which 
they are supposed to be derived. 

In reference to the character of the small pebbles and 
boulders of the deposit, specimens of which were sent to 
Dr. Locke several years since, he remarked that they 
were very interesting, as tending to prove the wide dis- 
persion of the drift, many of them being identified with 
the rocks found in place by Dr. Owen and himself in the 
survey of Iowa and Wisconsin. 

It is probable, however, that we need not look so far 
for the primitive beds of these rocks if we suppose them 
to have pursued the usual course of diluvial currents, 
that is, a southeasterly direction. We may, perhaps, 
find their origin in those insulated mountain ranges, the 
Ozark Mountains and the Washita Hills in Arkansas 
and Missouri, distant two and three hundred miles only 



248 GEOLOGY. 

in a direct line from the western border of our State, 
near our principal diluvial beds. 

This hypothesis is in accordance with facts at variance 
with the supposition of a more northern origin. Some 
of these are that the northern and northeastern counties 
of the State seem, in a great part, if not wholly, destitute 
of drift of the character of that of which I am treating. 
The channel of the Ohio River seems entirely without 
it, as is that of the Mississippi from the mouth of the 
Missouri to the vicinity of Memphis ; the character of 
all the gravel I have observed in the Ohio and in the 
Mississippi between the points mentioned, being of a 
calcareous or imperfectly formed argillaceous description ; 
whilst in the vicinity of Vicksburg and Natchez, and not 
extending below the White Cliffs, twelve miles only be- 
low the latter place, are found the heaviest deposits of the 
cherty and primitive formed diluvial gravel, and of the 
largest description in the whole course I have indicated. 
To the west, the lower Red River and Washita are des- 
titute of these deposits, near ShrevesjDort, on Red River ; 
and on the upper Washita, they are said to abound. 

Assuming Port Gibson as about midway, measuring 
across the stream, we shall find a nearly continuous belt, 
averaging some sixty miles in width, extending through 
the State in a southeasterly direction, widening or con- 
tracting occasionally in its course, and perhaps with 
some skips or interruptions, such as are to be expected 
in deposits of this nature. 

I am persuaded that the width of the stripe or belt 
may be traced through the State at the crossings of the 
eastern streams. Pearl, Leaf, and Chickasawhay Rivers. 

It is, however, in the character of the pebbles and 
boulders of the formation, if they may so be called, that 
the unmistakable evidences of its foreign origin are seen. 



GEOLOGY. 249 

These consist, in great part, of that description of rock 
known as chert or hornstone, an impure flint, often con- 
taining, or bearing the impressions of, fossil shells or 
corals, but most usually of crinordeal forms, the separate 
joints or fragments of encrinital stems, the latter occur- 
ring frequently, separate from the matrix, in the character 
of pebbles, being wholly converted into the same cherty 
rock, or into a yellowish jasper, and in some instances, 
into Carnelian or Chalcedony. 

Associated with these are found the quartz rocks in 
various modifications, as ferruginous, milky, and limpid 
quartz ; jaspers, yellow, red, and banded, as well as 
the black variety known as Lydian Stone or touch- 
stone, together with several varieties or modifications of 
agates, chalcedony, and carnelian. 

Porphyry has been occasionally seen, but is rare. 

Among these are also found petrifactions of coral, 
shell, and wood in rare and varied conditions of mineral- 
ization, not merely silicified in the simple state, as ordi- 
narily seen, but often agatized, opalized, and converted 
into carnelian, jasper, and jet. 

As every particular regarding the character and com- 
position of the drift seems to be a desideratum, it may 
not perhaps be amiss to be more minute in these details. 

The chert and jasper pebbles, without possessing any 
very marked or determinate forms, are neither distinctly 
angular nor much rounded, although palpably water- 
worn ; the black variety, or Lydian Stone, is an exception, 
however, being generally somewhat flattened with rather 
smooth faces, but otherwise irregular in outline. 

The larger and coarser quartzose and jaspery agates, 
and^ in rather less degree, the carnelians, are variously 
contorted, the agates frequently of rough exterior, and 
many of both cellular. 



250 GEOLOGY. 

The quartz pebbles, on the contrary, whether of the 
limpid, milky, or ferruginous varieties, uniformly occur 
in symmetrical convex disks, sometimes nearly circular, 
but most generally of an ovate form. 

The carnelians vary in color from the brown or sards 
to the white or chalcedony, but are generally of an 
amber or pale red, and rarely afford a facet over an inch 
square, although occurring sometimes three or four times 
as large. 

The sards are generally smooth, flat, and present a 
much larger surface, possessing a somewhat conchoidal 
fracture, and the edges are generally of unequal thick- 
ness. 

The finer varieties of agates are of a closer texture, 
and freer from flaws than the carnelians, being of the 
composition of chalcedony, striped with variously-colored 
veins, or concentric rings, and sometimes clouded, and 
are known as sard agates, or sardonyx, in contradistinc- 
tion to the larger and coarser kinds first mentioned, in 
which the crystalline quartz and jasper are generally 
combined in variable proportions. 

The sard agates are fully equal to the German or ori- 
ental agate in beauty and texture. 

All these varieties are susceptible, in the hands of the 
lapidary, of being formed into handsome gems. Many 
of them have been cut and polished, and are much ad- 
mired. 

As these pebbles have all been subjected to an equal 
degree of attrition, the ultimate variety of form is doubt- 
less owing to their distinctive crystalline structure. 

In illustration of the degree of force necessarily em- 
ployed in the transportation of the materials comprising 
the drift, it is proper perhaps to speak more definitely of 
their dimensions. 



GEOLOGY. 251 

Blocks of chert, of cubical or angular forms, which 
have either not been rolled, or have, since their deposi- 
tion, been broken into these forms by their natural lines 
of fracture, are occasionally found measuring two cubic 
feet or more ; and a block of pure milk quartz weighing 
about ten pounds has been obtained. 

The largest boulder seen, was found six or seven miles 
north of Vicksburg, near the base of the range of bluffs 
known as the Walnut Hills. It is of a symmetrical, 
ovate form, very similar in shape to the ferruginous 
quartz pebbles before spoken of, and approaching them 
somewhat in mineral composition, and of somewhat 
greater convexity of form. It measures about three feet 
in length by more than two in its greatest transverse 
diameter; the weight being conjectured to be at least 
five hundred pounds. 

Another angular block of perhaps equal dimensions 
has been seen in another locality. 

The general limits of distribution of this drift have 
before been stated. The heaviest deposits that have 
come under my observation, both as to the extent of the 
beds and dimensions of the boulders, are those on Big 
Sand in Claiborne County, some twenty miles northeast- 
wardly from Port Gibson. This is exposed for several 
miles along the widely cut bed of the creek, and in 
several others in the vicinity, extending to and along 
the Bayou Pierre. 

Others, not much less considerable, are found on St. 
Catherine's Creek, near Washington, and on some of the 
small branches of Cole's Creek, in Adams and Jefferson 
Counties. 

An extensive gravel bar, extending over a surface 
of more than three hundred acres, is seen at Diamond 
Island, in the Mississippi, fifteen miles below Vicksburg. 



252 GEOLOGY. 

Another^ of nearly half the extent, is seen at Natchez 
Island, six miles below the city. 

On a bar at the base of the Natchez Bluff, and on 
another in the Mississippi Eiver, about five miles below 
Kodney, considerable deposits are found, the latter only 
exposed at low water. 

On these river bars, the finest and largest of the sard 
agates and carnelians have been obtained. 

Many other extensive beds have been noticed more in 
the interior, but have not been much explored, and it is 
not necessary to specify others. 

Petrified wood has been spoken of as constituting some 
of the ingredients of the drift. I would not be under- 
stood, however, as referring it all to that origin. On the 
contrary, petrified wood is of very general occurrence 
over a large portion of the State, and will be further 
noticed under the head of Palaeontology, hereafter to be 
treated of. 

I incline to the belief, however, that the silicified 
palms or endogenous woods, which have so far been 
found only within a limited compass, not exceeding an 
area perhaps of ten miles in extent, are derived, like the 
boulders with which they are associated, from a foreign 
source. 

These endogens have all, more or less, a rounded 
water-worn character, and being confined, so far as yet 
observed, to a single locality, may have formed part of 
the freight of an extended ice-floe, which, grounding in 
that quarter, discharged its contents upon the surface. 

A variation in the character of the predominating rock 
or fossils composing the beds of drift in different locali- 
ties has been observed, suggesting a conclusion that 
separate fields of ice, starting from various points, 
charged with the detritus of dissimilar formations, or 



GEOLOGY. 253 

not wholly alike in their mineral characters, may, in the 
termination of their course, have thus distributed them. 

These palm woods differ both in their specific charac- 
ter and. in their forms of silicification. 

More than twenty species have been obtained, and 
constitute one of the most novel and interesting features 
in our palaeontology. Some of these are beautifully 
agatized, some converted into jet, and others into a fine, 
close-grained, fawn-colored jasper. 

Eounded, boulder-like masses of a foot in dimensions, 
and others of less diameter and eighteen inches in 
length, have been obtained. 

It is, perhaps, scarcely necessary to add that the drift 
is differently disposed, not merely in beds or depressions, 
but heaped up in elevated knolls or moraine-like ridges 
and positions, attributed by Sir Charles Lyell and other 
eminent geologists, to the lateral pressure of moving ice. 

These deposits always occur between the vegetable 
soil and the rocky strata of all ages, that constitute the 
geological basis of each section of country. 

To the north of St. Peter's, Nicolet found it overlying 
the primary rocks to the south, and on both sides of the 
Mississippi it covers siluvian rocks. On the upper Mis- 
souri it rests upon a cretaceous formation, and upon the 
tertiary. 



SPRINGS AND WELLS. 

The section of the State embracing the pine region 
is bountifully supplied with springs of pure freestone 
water; and in the southernmost counties water is also 
obtained in wells of such moderate depth that they are, 
for greater convenience, habitually used. 



254 GEOLOGY. 

Twenty-five feet may be stated as the average depth 
at which permanent streams are attained in Amite, 
Pike, and Marion ; and on the flat lands nearer the sea- 
board, wells rarely exceed fifteen or twenty feet, the 
water being drawn by the pole and sweep. 

In the alluvial lands of the river counties, springs are 
much less common, though not entirely deficient, and 
well water is freely obtained at about sixty to eighty 
feet. 

In both, however, the M^ater, although cold and limpid, 
is highly impregnated with lime, and is termed hard 
water, as unsuitable for washing, and not much less so 
for culinary purposes. 

Being also regarded to some extent as unwholesome 
for drinking, cistern water has come into very general 
use, especially in towns and villages, as more salubrious. 

The wells at the University of Oxford were sixty to 
seventy feet deep, and afforded a plentiful supply of 
good water; but having failed in the spring of 1852 
(attributed to the shock of an earthquake felt very per- 
ceptibly at that place on the 23d of January, 1852), 
another well was sunk in the June following, to the 
depth of 145 feet before water was obtained, the whole 
distance through coarse silicious sand, of various colors, 
with thin strata of white clay ; but no fossils were ob- 
tained. — [Dr, Millington.) 

Along the whole extent of the Yazoo and Talla- 
hatchee valleys, and the whole front below, on the Mis- 
sissippi, copious springs or subterranean streams issue 
from the base of the bluffs ; the water, however, flowing 
from beds of ochreous earths, and pyritous clays, is 
largely charged with sulphate of iron, and its habitual 
use is highly pernicious. 

The undermining effects of these streams, some of them 



GEOLOGY. 255 

of considerable volume, issuing not much above the low- 
water level of the Mississippi, and washing out the beds 
of sand, through which they flow, have produced con- 
siderable basin-like subsidences, and occasioned a peculiar 
indented configuration of the bluff margin, such as a 
striking example is afforded of in the ^unch-howls just 
above Natchez. 

Where the tertiary strata are exposed, or approach 
near the surface, as in portions of Hinds, Madison, and 
other middle counties, springs, at least such as are 
constant, are almost entirely absent ; but well-water is 
frequently obtained from twenty to thirty-five feet below 
the surface. If obtained at the greater depth of fifty to 
eighty feet, it is generally fetid and unfit for use, being 
derived from the black offensive muck of the tertiary 
strata. 

The shallow wells in use. are rarely permanent, 
seldom lasting more than a few years, when others are 
dug in situations previously experimented on with the 
auger. 

The water is evidently derived from the surface, per- 
colating through the upper strata to the pipe-clay and 
sand, which gives it, frequently, a somewhat turbid or 
milky appearance. An instance occurred, in the south- 
ern part of Hinds, where a fair quality of water was 
abundantly obtained at fifteen feet, within a few yards 
of the spot where a well had been recently sunk eighty 
feet to the black mud, and consequently abandoned. 

This black, fetid muck of the prairies, seems exten- 
sively dispersed, and has been encountered at various 
localities, from the vicinity of Oxford to that of Bran- 
don, at a depth of from fifty to eighty feet — a difference 
not greater, perhaps, than that of the inequalities of the 



256 GEOLOGY. 

surface. The same may be said of the eastern part of 
Neshoba. 

The prairie district is lamentably deficient in good 
water. Where Artesian wells are impracticable, water 
is brought to an attainahle distance by boring. 

In Okolona, a boring has been made to the depth of 
470 feet, which supplies a well sunk to the depth of 
ninety feet, the water rising to within seventy-five feet 
of the surface. 

In Noxubbe County, these borings are very numerous. 
They range from one hundred and fifteen to six hundred 
feet in depth, the water rising variously to from fifteen 
to eighty feet of the surface, to meet which, the wells 
are sunk to the requisite depth, from which the water 
has then to be elevated in the ordinary way, by the 
windlass. 

In one instance, water was brought to within three 
feet of the top, from a distance of three hundred and 
five feet; the boring was then continued to four hundred 
and forty-eight feet, but the water rose no higher. 

Cisterns are frequently excavated in the white-lime 
rock of the prairie, requiring no walling or cement, and 
supplied either by these borings or with rain-water. 

Tanks or ponds, for the supply of water for stock, 
have also been made in the rock, but, it is said, have 
not proved very reliable- 
Franklin Springs, situated at the head of Wells's 
Creek, of which it is the principal source, on Lot 5, 
Section 37, Township 7, Range 1 E., is the most noted 
natural object in the county of that name. This was 
the earliest resort, as a watering-place, in the State. 
Thirty-five years since, these springs enjoyed some 
reputation ; but as little improvement was made for the 
accommodation of visitors, and as they were not known 



GEOLOGY. 257 

to possess any medicinal properties, they were supplanted 
by Columbia Springs, in Marion County, and for a long 
period had gone out of use. 

For two or three years past, they have again been 
attracting some attention, and buildings of a limited 
extent have been erected. 

The peculiarity of these springs consists in the volume 
of water forced upwards from a considerable depth, by 
an evidently great pressure. The pool or basin formed 
by the principal spring, is used as a bath. It may not 
be inaptly likened to a natural Artesian well, with a 
tube or perforation about four feet in diameter, which 
has not been fathomed. 

A person leaping into this with some force, may sink 
a short distance below the surface, but will be forcibly 
ejected. In a quiescent state, one cannot sink below the 
armpits. Poles twenty feet in length have been inserted 
in it, with no other apparent resistance than that pre- 
sented by the ascending column of water. 

The water is pure and limpid, but, owing to a quan- 
tity of decayed and finely comminuted vegetable matter, 
and sand held in suspension over the aperture, the vision 
can penetrate but a short distance into its depths. 

The temperature of the bath, with the thermometer 
plunged some distance below the surface, was 64° 
Fahrenheit. In the open air, before immersion, it stood 
at 72 degrees. 

As connected somewhat in character with these 
springs, and situated some eight miles below, near the 
stream of which they are the source, but on elevated 
pine lands, may be mentioned two wells (in the same 
county) about a mile or so distant from each other, in 
which, on penetrating a thin stratum of hard pan, the 
water in each instance rushed up with such violence, 
17 



258 . GEOLOGY. 

for a depth of forty feet, that the digger was extricated 
with difficulty. The water continued to stand at that 
elevation, and, although surrounded at no great distance 
by springs of pure freestone water, was so strongly 
impregnated with lime and iron as to be unfit for use. 



MINERAL WATERS. 

Mineral water is found in many parts of the State, 
and is generally sulphurous or chalybeate. 

Several springs have enjoyed for a time, a reputation 
which made them the resorts of fashion and pleasure, or 
attracted the invalid by the virtues attributed to them. 

The first of these, in point of notoriety and fashiona- 
ble resort, was Stoveall's Spring, near Columbia, Marion 
County, Section 24, Township 4, Range 19 W. 

The next in order were the Brandywine Springs, on 
the waters of the Bayou Pierre, about twenty miles east 
of Port Gibson, in Claiborne County. 

These, which were in high favor some twenty years 
since, as well as the Columbia Spring, were of sulphur 
water, and have long since ceased to be frequented, and 
the buildings, once familiar with gay and joyous throngs, 
have fallen to decay, and have nearly all been removed. 

The Mississippi Springs, formerly known as Bank- 
ston's, near Clinton, in Hinds County, next attracted 
attention. Extensive buildings, but of rather a tem- 
porary and perishable character, were erected, and the 
place enjoyed for several years a liberal patronage, until 
it was in a great degree supplanted by its more popular 
and widely known rival. Cooper's Well, distant only 
about two miles, on Section — , Township 5, Range 2 
W. The water of this well has acquired a high 



GEOLOGY. 259 

character for its curative effects in a certain class of 
diseases, and its reputation is attracting numbers afflicted 
with such disorders, even from distant States. 

The water is unhke any other hitherto discovered 
here, the chief ingredient being sulphate of lime. 

This well, situated in a cove, at the foot of a very 
high gravelly ridge, is 107 feet deep. A stratum of 
sandstone (found also on the surface) and one of con- 
glomerate or pudding-stone, were penetrated. 

The temperature of the water, ascertained by me in 
May, 1852, was 66° Fahrenheit, the mercury standing 
at 88° in the open air, before immersion. 

Dr. Smith, in his, analyses of the previous December, 
reports the temperature at 64° Fahrenheit ; that of the 
air being at the time 50 degrees; showing a difference of 
two degrees between winter and summer, owing, doubt- 
less, to the exposure to the different medium of the 
atmosphere of the surface, colder at one period and 
warmer at the other. 

Analyses of this water, and of such other mineral 
springs as could be procured, will be found under the 
proper head. 

Among others which have for some years past at- 
tracted many visitors, may be mentioned the Lauderdale 
Springs and the Artesian Springs of Madison County. 

Ocean Springs, , on the sea-shore near Baluxi, has 
the latest notoriety, being opened to visitors for the first 
time last summer, and seems likely to be much fre- 
quented as a summer resort. . 

There are many other mineral springs which have not 
yet come into general notice; some still unimproved, and 
known only to or frequented by persons in the immedi- 
ate neighborhood ; a mere mention of some of these will 
complete the list; among them are the reputed alum 



260 GEOLOGY. 

springs of Madison, Marion, and Pike Counties; a white 
sulphur spring in Neshoba County; and the springs in 
Marshall and Lafayette, the properties of which I have 
not learned. 



ARTESIAN WELLS. 

Artesian wells, so called from the province of Artois, 
in France, where they are generally supposed to have 
been first constructed, are of such a description, that, by 
boring into the earth to the requisite depth, water is 
obtained on the surface or escapes from the orifice in a 
jet to a variable height above it, and this result is due to 
the principle that water will find its own level. 

Success, therefore, is not to be expected alike in all 
situations, and such borings are to be undertaken only 
in those formations, or under certain conditions of geolo- 
gical structure, in which the strata are so disposed in 
reference to their dip or inclination, and their character 
and consistency, as to render this practicable. 

Plate XI., Fig. 2, exhibits a section of such a stratifi- 
cation as answers these conditions. 

The whole series is seen so curved or inclined by some 
subterranean movement as to present a concave surface 
or basin-shaped structure: A represents a stratum of 
such consistency or character of rock as to retain the 
water falling on it, upon its surface ; B a stratum of sand 
and gravel, or of such other porous materials as will 
absorb the water which falls upon and is conducted into 
it by A, and which is prevented from rising above by 
the retentive strata of clay, or any impervious rock, 
represented by G. Borings from the surface, as at B 
Ej penetrating into the water-bearing stratum B, will 



Pa.0e 200 



Plate XI 



^ 




teSftlSiSilll' 



c 

F 



gisP'SSs^^^M^v " 



Zfi^ 



sa 



&s 









Vi6 I . 



J7IJ^e/i 



SECTIONo* PUBLIC WELL s^ COLUMBUS 




Kig (f . 

THEORy OF ARTESIAN WELLS 



9«» pa ^« 2,60 



• .l..C.WAtk,C« ttt 



L.N. ROSCHTNAL'S Cl»»»»0 LiTtI PiJl. » 



GEOLOGY. 261 

afford an escape for the water through the superficial 
deposits D, to the surface, or to the level of its source, 
the water itself being the motive power, and the elevat- 
ing force being restrained or counteracted in the degree 
of the resistance the water encounters in passing through 
the strata, the weight of the column ejected, and the 
atmospheric pressure above the surface. 

It is obvious, therefore, that borings into A, in the 
direction of its outcropping, or into the basin itself, if it 
were filled with superficial deposits to a higher level 
than the source of the subterranean fountain, would not 
be attended with success. 

Other agencies may co-operate, it is true, in producing 
this efiect, as the carbonic acid gas, which, in its escape 
from its invaded sources, forces the water up with it. 

In the remarkable well at Kissingen, in Bavaria, a 
column of salt water, discharging one hundred cubic feet 
per minute, is thus ejected with such force as to elevate 
it fifty-eight feet above the surface from a depth of six- 
teen hundred and eighty feet. 

Similar efiects are produced by the same agency, but 
in a less stupendous degree, in the salt wells on the Ka- 
nawha, in Virginia; and in the sulphur well, bored in the 
bed of the Scioto River, near Columbus, Ohio ; the water 
is driven up with great force by its own gas, from a 
depth of two hundred and fifty feet. 

The Geysers, or intermittent hot springs of Iceland, 
afford another example of the elevation of water by 
natural means, the elevating agent in that case being 
the pent-up vapor generated by internal volcanic fires. 

The popular belief that Artesian wells are of very 
modern origin is unfounded, as, according to several 
ancient writers, they appear to have been known at an 
early age. 



262 GEOLOGY. 

The well at Lillers, has been in use since the begin- 
ning of the twelfth centurj^, and has afforded, during a 
period of seven hundred years, a constant and undimi- 
nished supply of water. 

The wells at Elbeuf, Tours, and Rouen have, during 
a long period, been equally constant ; and the inference 
is that such fountains are inexhaustible. 

Until recently, the well at Grenelle, a suburb of Paris, 
was regarded as the most stupendous and successful 
experiment of the kind. Eight years were occupied in 
its construction. It is about eighteen hundred feet in 
depth, and affords about half a million of gallons of water 
in twenty-four hours. 

It is surpassed, however, by the salt well at Kissingen, 
before mentioned, which was commenced in 1832, and 
not completed until 1850. Its depth is 2,325 feet, and 
the cost of construction, including fixtures, exceeded 
thirty thousand dollars. 

In addition to those already mentioned, the most con- 
siderable undertakings of the kind in this country are 
the following: Belcher's Well, at St. Louis, Missouri, 
which, in April 1853, had attained the depth of 1,590 feet, 
the boring being still prosecuted day and night, by steam- 
power; and the well at Charleston, South Carolina, in 
which, in May 1853, more than a thousand feet of boring 
was accomplished, and the work was rapidly progress- 
ing. Ultimate success was anticipated. 

The geological structure of a considerable portion of 
Alabama and Mississippi also is favorable to these enter- 
prises. 

In the former State, there are said to be not less than 
five hundred of these wells, and their depth rarely ex- 
ceeds six hundred feet. 

In our own State, the number approaches, perhaps, 



GEOLOGY. 263 

one hundred. In Lowndes County alone, there are more 
than thirty of these, chiefly on the east of the Tombig- 
bee River. 

Details as to the locality, depth, and volume of water 
discharged, &c., of a number of these, were obtained 
when on an excursion to that county. 

These are all of quite moderate depth, ranging from 
one hundred and fifteen to three hundred and seventy 
feet. 

The most remarkable of these is that formerly known 
as Bexley's, which, from the very inconsiderable depth 
of one hundred and ninety-six feet, throws up one hun- 
dred and sixty gallons per minute. 

The next, as regards the volume of water, is that of 
Fernande's, the depth being one hundred and ninety feet, 
and the discharge one hundred and fifteen gallons. 

The highest jet above the surface is fifteen feet, given 
by the wells of Jordan and Cannon. In the others 
enumerated, it ranges from three to five feet. 

The public well in Columbus is the deepest, being 
three hundred and seventy-one feet; it discharges thirty 
gallons per minute, four feet above the surface, the tem- 
perature of the water being 65° Fahr. 

From Dr. Spillman, of Columbus, to whom I am in- 
debted mainly for the foregoing details as to the wells in 
Lowndes County, and for other attentions, I derived the 
following particulars as to the stratification disclosed by 
the boring of the public well in Columbus; the Doctor 
being the only person, so far as I could learn, who had 
bestowed much intelligent observation on the subject in 
that quarter, or had taken note of such observations. 
The details were more minute, as furnished, than I have 
given them, but in the absence of similar observations in 



264 GEOLOGY. 

reference to other wells, the omission of the minute divi- 
sions of the strata are unimportant. 

Artesian Well at Columbus. 

Stratum. Feet. 

A 50 Ferruginous clays and pebbles. 
B 160 Grreen-sand, composed of cblorite of iron, &c. 
C 83 Incoherent micaceous earth, of light ash color, with lig- 
nite and pyrites alternating. 
D 7 Hard brown-colored argillite. 
E 18 Fine ash-colored grit, with particles of mica. 
F 12 Yellow-colored hard argillaceous earth. 
G 28 Tough, brown, argillaceous earth, difficult to bore. 
H 13 Compact green-sand to water, temperature 65° Fahr. 



371 feet. (See Plate XI., Fig. 1.) 

At Aberdeen, Monroe County, which is about six or 
seven miles west, and about twenty-four north of Colum- 
bus, the public Artesian well in the town is five hundred 
and twelve feet deep, and affords about ten gallons of 
water per minute. It is strongly chalybeate, imparting 
a deep copper tinge in a short time to the tin and earthen 
vessels in which it is kept. 

But few attempts have been made, I believe, at Arte- 
sian wells west of the dividing ridge between the waters 
of the Tombigbee and those of Pearl Kiver. 

About twenty-five years since, one was commenced in 
Natchez, in which, however, a moderate depth only was 
attained, the obstacle being, it is said, the quicksand en- 
countered — a difficulty which the undertaker had neither 
the experience nor the ingenuity to surmount. 

In 1848, the Eev. Mr. Lambuth, residing on Section 
2, Township 7, Range 2 E., ten miles south of Canton, 
in Madison County, bored to the depth of two hundred 
and eighty feet, when, on penetrating through a sand- 



Pa^et6 5. 



Plate XIII 




v^ 



H 



J a 



B 1, C Waiifs <tri . 



xy 
Q 




a 



fe. 







o-a Stone |jv:»l Rospothiil 



Irojrinliilil,, INKo 



r 



GEOLOGY. 265 

stone not exceeding a foot in thickness, the water rushed 
up to within eighty feet of the surface, with such force 
as to clog up the boring, which had not been tubed. 

Near the same place, two years later, he repeated the 
experiment with the same result. 

In a third attempt, an imperfect tubing, formed of 
plank, inserted down to the rock before penetrating it, 
enabled him to continue the boring ; and at the further 
depths of fifty and one hundred feet respectively, other 
water-bearing strata were encountered, each of which 
afforded an obvious increase of water, which had risen 
near the surface when the auger was broken, and could 
not be extracted. 

In 1852, he renewed his experiments on the public 
square in Canton, one hundred and two feet below the 
level of his former attempts. 

Allowing for the difference of elevation, he found a 
general correspondence in the strata penetrated. A 
depth of 280 feet was attained, when the rush of water 
became so great as to fill up the imperfect and badly 
adjusted tubing, which at that point, by an untoward 
accident, became hopelessly crushed and deranged. 

In neither of these borings were the cretaceous rocks 
reached, but the tertiary green-sand marl, with fossils 
similar to those found at Jackson, I understand, was 
penetrated. 

The process of boring, as I witnessed it in Lowndes 
County, is easy ; the apparatus is simple, and attended 
with but moderate expense or consumption of time. 
(See Plate XIII.) A tripod, formed of common poles, 
about thirty feet high, sustains a block over the aperture 
from which the boring rods are suspended, and which 
are managed by two laborers, who walk around at oppo- 
site ends of a short movable lever, connected with the 



266 GEOLOGY. 

iron bar, or sinker, which, forms the upper section of the 
rodsj and is provided with a series of holes, at suitable 
distances along its entire length, about ten feet, through 
which the lever is keyed, and by means of which it can 
be shifted and adjusted at a higher elevation, as the 
auger descends. 

To the lower end of the sinker, wooden rods, in sec- 
tions of about twenty feet in length, tipped with iron to 
admit of being screwed together as the work progresses, 
are attached; and these are elevated, as occasion re- 
quires, by the rope by which they are suspended, passing 
through the block, and connecting with a windlass, 
which may be worked, if necessary, by horse-power. 

A bored log is usually inserted down to the indurated 
marl or lime-rock. This is necessary to prevent the 
loose incoherent earth or sand of the upper strata from 
caving in or being washed aw^ay. The log has an aperture 
sufficient to admit the free passage of the auger and 
rods, and is driven or forced down in one or more sec- 
tions of twenty feet, suitably united, to the requisite 
depth, which is sometimes near a hundred feet. 

When the compact rock is penetrated, and sandy, in- 
coherent strata met with, tubing becomes necessary; 
sheet-iron is generally used for the purpose, but cast-iron 
pipes are considered more suitable. 

Thirty feet a day can be bored in the soft lime rock, 
but not more than ten in the sand-rock or green-sand. 
Fifty feet is sometimes accomplished the first day. 

The ordinary charge for boring is thirty-three cents 
per foot for the first three hundred feet ; for the next 
two hundred feet, fifty cents; and over five hundred 
feet, one dollar per foot. 

The tubing with sheet-iron, is estimated to cost fifty 
cents per foot. 



GEOLOGY. 267 

The cost of the whole apparatus necessary for boring, 
including windlass and other tackle, need not exceed 
three hundred dollars. 

The subjoined table, of some of the wells in Lowndes 
County, exhibits a great inequality, both in depth and 
volume of water. All these are situated on the east 
side of the Tombigbee River, and, in the absence of 
other data, afford no satisfactory indications of the 
inclination of the strata. 

It is a matter of regret, that my inquiries, when 
visiting the prairie district, were not productive of more 
reliable information, on a subject of such prominent 
interest to a considerable portion of the State. 

Many of those who have engaged in the execution of 
these enterprises, have taken little note as to the dip, 
thickness, or character of the various strata encountered 
in these borings, and their observations have not gene- 
rally been such as to indicate the likelihood of success, 
or to enable them to form any reasonable inference as 
to the probable depth of the water-bearing strata in 
other localities. The work is, therefore, often prose- 
cuted as a hap-hazard adventure, and success is regarded 
as wholly fortuitous. 

I hope I shall succeed hereafter, in acquiring further 
information of more practical value, on this interesting 
subject. 

As far as the facts collected in the vicinity of Colum- 
bus, authorize a conjecture, it may be inferred that the 
dip of the strata is to the southwest, at the rate of about 
twenty-five feet to the mile. 

In the present stage of our investigations, and the 
exjperience we have acquired, it is perhaps idle to specu- 
late at this time upon the probability of finding water- 



268 



GEOLOGY. 



bearing strata above the cretaceous rocks wbicb would 
fulfil the conditions of Artesian fountains. 

It has been the opinion of some, that the burrstone 
sands were of this character; but, however promising 
the indications may sometimes have been, this belief, as 
yet, is not known to have been verified. 

In the boring at Charleston, South Carolina, these 
sands have been passed, and the cretaceous rocks pene- 
trated to a considerable depth, without a satisfactory 
result. 



Table of Artesian Wells in Lowndes County, east of the Tomhighee 

River. 



PKOPBIETOU, 




.2 

a 

0) 


d 
o 


U 


ft 


Rise above 
the sur- 
face. 


Gallons 
per 
minute. | 


Public well in Co- 
















lumbus 


W. i S. W. i 


16 


18 S. 


18 W. 


3T1 


4 


30 


Bexley or Ricbardson 


W. J S. E. i 


19 


ITS. 


17 W. 


196 


5 


160 


A. Moore 


E. h S. E. i 


8 


18 S. 


18 W. 


19T 


3 


15 


William Winston 


W. I N. W. 


8 


18 S. 


ITW. 


200 


4 


30 


W. Covington 


N. W. 


24 


ITS. 


18 W. 


185 


4 


T5 


C. R. Jordan 


N. W. 


1 


19 N. 


15 E. 


260 


15 


4 


Rhasa Cannon 


N. W. 


11 


19 N. 


16 E. 




15 


10 


E. W. Kirkland 


E. i S. E. 


7 


18 S. 


ITW. 


265 


4 


60 


F. Exford 


W. ^ N. W. 


14 


18 S. 


18 W. 


206 


4 


10 


C. McLarin 


E. i N. W. 


14 


18 S. 


18 W. 


246 


3 


20 


S. a. Wells 


W. I N. W. I 


18 


18 N. 


ITE. 


115 


4 


15 


J. J. Fernandis 


W. h N. E. 


31 


ITS. 


ITW. 


190 


3 


115 


J. M. Wyne 


E. h N. W. 


23 


18 S. 


18 W. 


190 


4 


35 


E. C. Eggleston 


S. h N. W. 


18 


18 S. 


ITW. 


185 


3 


40 


B. Barry 


W. J s. w. 


1 


18 S. 


18 W. 


1T8 


4 


30 


W. Dowsing 


W. J s. w. 


10 


18 S. 


18 W. 


256 


3 


25 


James Miller 


E. I S. W. 


25 


19 N. 


ITE. 


203 


5 


2 


Robert Jameson 


W. i S. E. 


28 


ITS. 


ITW. 


145 


4 


50 



GEOLOGY. 269 



PALEONTOLOGY. 

Palaeontology is that branch of natural history by 
which we gain a definite knowledge of organic remains, 
or of the fossil and extinct animals and plants which 
have been aptly termed the medals of creation, and the 
embalmed memorials of a former world. 

It furnishes a certain clue and guide in our geological 
researches, and enables us to identify the different forma- 
tions in very distant localities when the distinctions 
founded solely on mineral characters would fail. 

The discovery was made, about half a century since, 
by William Smith, a land surveyor, and now recognized 
as " the father of English geology," that certain groups 
of fossils were peculiar to certain strata ; a knowledge 
which has since been improved by Sir Charles Lyell, in 
his division of the tertiary strata, as has before been 
stated. In this division, the testacea or shells, found to 
exist in greatest abundance and variety, and of wider 
and more general distribution, have been adopted, to the 
exclusion of the remains of plants and vertebrated ani- 
mals, which are comparatively of too few species and are 
confined to fewer localities. 

More than three thousand species of fossil shells have 
been ascertained. Of these, about eight hundred perhaps 
belong to the pliocene, one thousand to the miocene, and 
twelve hundred to the eocene divisions of the tertiary ; 
and, although some species may be common to all, or 
run into the other divisions, yet a large proportion of 
them may be regarded as the exclusive and characteristic 
fossils of each. 



270 GEOLOGY. 

It is by noting the existence of these in new and dis- 
tant locahties, and by the discovery of new and unde- 
scribed species, that our knowledge is extended, and hence 
it is that our eminent geologists impress upon those en- 
gaged in such investigations the importance of collecting 
all these relics, none of which, however mutilated or 
imperfect, are regarded as too trivial to be preserved. 

These remarks may tend, perhaps, to modify, in some 
degree,, the lightly formed opinions of those who have 
been accustomed to regard the collection of fossil re- 
mains, especially of minute shells, as a puerile pursuit 
or a frivolous recreation of the idle ; and the study of 
their nature and history as tending to no useful result. 

The discovery of the skeletons of gigantic mammalia, 
such as those of the Mastodon or of kindred species, may 
excite a temporary interest among the curious ; but the 
less striking discoveries, due to the labors of the natu- 
ralist, are too generally disregarded and unappreciated. 

Few States in the Union are so rich in organic re- 
mains as Mississippi, and a description of some of these, 
and the localities in which they occur, will here be given. 

So far as our secondary formations have been explored, 
they afford no fossils of an earlier origin than those of 
the cretaceous period. I except, of course, the trans- 
ported exuvia of the drift, and which will be noticed in 
that group. 

The organic remains of the cretaceous system, it 
should be remarked, are almost wholly marine ; no land 
or fresh-water shells or bones of mammalia having yet 
been formed among them. 

At the Plymouth Bluffs, on the western side of the 
Tombigbee River, about five miles above Columbus by 
land. Casts of the Ammonites of large size, as well as 
those of the Inoceramus, or Catillus Cuveri ; and the 



' GEOLOGY. 271 

nautilus, bellerophon, and bacculitis faujasii, are nume- 
rous in the lowest exposed strata of micaceous shale and 
green-sand, which forms the base of the talus, and in 
which the Exogera Costata are profusely deposited, hav- 
ing fallen from the superior strata in the escarpment of 
the bluff where they are seen horizontally disposed in 
place. 

From the character of the bed in which they are 
found, it is difficult to extract the casts from the matrix, 
and but few, chiefly those of the Catillus, were obtained. 

The exogera, however, are of different character, be- 
ing mineralized nearly to silicification. The shells de- 
tach themselves readily from the strata, and are found 
also strewn profusely on the surface of the adjacent 
prairies, and in the small superficial channels and ravines 
at a prairie bluff, two miles further, near the Oktibbeha 
Creek, where the gryphgea globosa and a peculiar small 
hook-shaped fossil, the Hamulus onyx, are also found, 
the latter similarly dispersed in great quantities. 

At the base of this bluff, near the water's edge, ledges 
of conglomerate, formed chiefly of the exogera, are ex- 
posed, and at Plymouth Bluff the pecten quinque costa- 
tus was found among the other fossils. 

Near Aberdeen, ammonites, changed to a compact 
calcareous rock, have been found of large size. I met 
with some considerable sections of these, divided by the 
transverse plates or partitions of the cells, and suscepti- 
ble of being fitted together or reunited at their joints or 
lines of separation. 

The lamna cuspidata of Agassiz, has also been found 
in the prairie rock near Aberdeen. 

At Okolona, the gryphaea globosa was seen in the 
white limestone excavated from the deep well in that 
place; the shells all having a black slaty appearance, 



272 ' GEOLOGY. 

attributable, perhaps, to the presence of the pyrites in 
the rock. 

Beyond Prairie Mound, and about fifteen miles from 
Pontotoc, near the base of a long hill, which the road 
ascends, the prairie rock is seen to crop out, and the exo-^ 
gera are again abundant; and at this point a consider- 
able number of belemnites were obtained, numerous 
fragments of them being strewn by the roadside. 

Several miles further, after surmounting the hill or 
ridge spoken of, in the bank of a branch of the Chowapa, 
the exogera are again seen, and nearer to Pontotoc, two 
or three miles to the south, they are found in massive 
beds, forming a conglomerate rock extending with little 
interruption several miles, the general range bearing 
nearly east and west, and on the northern declivity of 
the ridge, resembling a prolonged indented parapet. 

The spatangus, a small species of which occurs at 
another more easterly locality nearer Pontotoc, enters 
partially with the exogera, and a proportion of minor 
fragmentary shells, into the composition of the conglome- 
rate, in and near which, some very minute sharks' teeth 
were also found. 

Near Tocshish, the old missionary station, some 
twenty-five years since, and before the Indians had re- 
moved from the country, some very conspicuous and ex- 
tensive ranges of a similar conglomerate were to be seen 
rising several feet above the surface, suggesting the idea 
of an ocean reef, or an ancient sea margin. I could not 
learn with certainty whether these ledges yet exist. 
The practice which has obtained in that section of burn- 
ing this shell rock into lime, has most probably consigned 
them to useful and economical purposes. 

The occurrence of the vertebra, and some of the other 
bones of the Mosasaurus, found in digging cisterns, and 



GEOLOGY. 273 

in the Noxubee Creek, near Macon, renders it probable 
that there is a formation in that section equivalent to 
the Maestricht beds, separating the cretaceous and ter- 
tiary series, this reptile belonging to the former group, 
and being characteristic of the beds spoken of. 

Further investigations, which have as yet been prose- 
cuted only to a limited extent in that quarter, will pro- 
bably reveal some of the characteristic shells usually 
associated with these remains, and which are common 
neither to the cretaceous nor to the tertiary. 

Some joints of the vertebra of the Mesosaurus, from 
the lime rock excavated from the cisterns spoken of, are 
plated or embossed with pyrites, and plates of the shells 
of Chelonia are found associated with them in a similar 
condition. 

Following up these organic remains in the order of 
succession, those of the Eocene period next present them- 
selves, and at no point yet explored more conspicuously 
than at Yicksburg. 

Mr. Conrad, who has perhaps bestowed more attention 
upon the tertiary fossils of the United States than most 
of our geologists, visited that locality some years since, 
and devoted several weeks to researches among these re- 
mains, and published a descriptive catalogue of them in 
1848, in the first volume of the second series of the 
Journal of the Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia. 

He enumerates about one hundred and fifty species, 
many of which he found to be new and undescribed, and 
most of which he has accurately figured. 

Since his visit, these beds have been traced along the 
base of the bluff range above Vicksburg, as high as St. 
Peter's, or Hayne's Bluff, on the Yazoo, which has resulted 
in the discovery of a few others, not included in his 
catalogue. 
18 



274 GEOLOGY, 

A table of all the species found in the scope indicated 
will be found annexed; and for a more particular acquaint- 
ance with the most characteristic the reader is referred 
to the Journal of the Academy of Natural Sciences, vol. i. 
Plates, 11, 12, 13, and 14, and vol. ii. Plate 1. 

The fossils of this locality are not confined to the 
testacea, but with them are associated the spines and 
rays of fishes, together with their dental plates, otolites, 
and scales, as well as the teeth of several species of the 
shark family — among them the Carcharodon agustidens 
and Galeocerdo latidens of Agassiz. The Saurocephalus 
lanciformis of Harlan is also found. 

The branched coral, Madrepora Mississipjpiensis of 
Conrad, is abundant, and one small specimen of a species 
which seems nearly allied, if not identical, with that of 
the rock used in the walls of the Castle of San Juan 
d'Ulloa, Vera Cruz, has been obtained. 

Similar beds are represented as occurring in the bluffs 
on Big Black River, and on Baker's Creek, in Hinds 
County. Whether these are identical with the Vicks- 
burg fossils, or assimilate more nearly to those found 
in the tertiary green-sand marl of Jackson, remains to be 
determined. 

This latter deposit is seen most advantageously in the 
bed of the creek emptying into Pearl River immediately 
below the crossing of the Jackson and Brandon Rail- 
road. The bed lies about fifteen feet below the level of 
the adjacent plain, and about four feet of its thickness 
are exposed in the banks of the creek. Its entire depth 
has not been ascertained. 

The marl is of a bluish-green color in its moist state, 
and in the bed is of considerable toughness and tenacity. 
Upon exposure, and becoming thoroughly dried, it parts 
with much of its color, crumbles to a granular sand-like 



GEOLOGY. 275 

substance, and assumes a grayish appearance, owing to the 
large proportion of finely comminuted shell contained in it. 

The quantity of entire shells imbedded in it is very 
great, lying almost in contact with each other, and form- 
ing perhaps one-sixth of the volume of the deposit. 

When first exposed, these shells present a lively 
yellow tint, but become somewhat bleached and changed 
to a dull white by exposure. 

Of more than forty species that have been found, 
very few are identical with those of Vicksburg, and 
many of them belong to distinct genera. Generally, they 
exceed the Vicksburg shells considerably in size. 

Among them the Rostellaria velata of Conrad is by 
far the most abundant, amounting perhaps to twenty-five 
per cent, of the whole number. 

An unusually large Mytra is also found here; for 
which, it proving to be new, I propose the specific name 
Millingtonii, in respect to my friend, Doctor Millington, 
first principal geologist of the State. 

A Cypraea (fenestrela) having the exterior surface 
covered with a double series of fine, but very distinct 
stria, intersecting and crossing each other, seems to be 
peculiar to this bed, but its greatest novelty is a large 
depressed patelliform shell, belonging to the genus Um- 
brella of Swainson, and for which jplanulata is proposed 
by Mr. Conrad as the specific name. 

The foreg'oing, together with the phorus reclusus may 
be considered the characteristic shells of the deposit. 

Two species of turbinoba, a large flabellum, and two 
species of the oyster, one of which, of large size and to 
some extent silicified, is also of common occurrence on 
the surface in the vicinity, and abundantly in the small 
prairie half a mile northeast of the State House, are also 
included in this remarkable group of fossils. 



276 GEOLOGY. 

For the subjoined catalogue, I am indebted to Timothy 
A. Conrad, Esq., whose extensive investigations among 
the fossils of the cretaceous and tertiary formations, 
renders him the most competent authority we have in 
this department of our Natural history. These fossils 
have been determined and named by him, and prove for 
the chief part, new and undescribed species. 

In the lime-rock exposed by the cut in the railroad 
near Brandon, Plate XII., Fig. 1, the Scutella Rogersi 
of Morton is abundant, but so firmly imbedded as to be 
detached with difficulty, and very rarely entire. 

Imbedded in the lime-rock at Marshall's quarry, are 
found the Spatangus, Madrepora Mississippiensis, Crus- 
tacea, and shells, together with numerous casts of 
panopea. 

Fish finely preserved, and exhibiting the fins and 
scales very distinctly, have also been obtained in this 
rock, as well as a fossil which has somewhat the appear- 
ance which collolites present, but which result, perhaps, 
from the ravages of teredinse. 

Fossils of the same character are to be had at Stew- 
ard's quarry, but have been less observed. 

In the crabs found in these quarries, the carapace and 
other plates, as well as the claws, are well defined, the 
latter, however, being often absent or detached, wholly 
or in part. 

At Long's Quarry, eight miles south of Jackson, when 
it was formerly worked, many similar fossils of an in- 
teresting description were brought to light, and sharks' 
teeth of small size, were common there. 

A fine specimen of Carcharodon megalodon, of Agas- 
siz, of good size, was found in the gypseous marl of Ball 
Prairie, a few miles southeast of Clinton, Hinds County. 



GEOLOGY. 277 

The Carcharodon agustidens, of Agassiz, has also been 
found in the same county. These species occur in the 
marls of Virginia, and are there referred to the Miocene 
period. 

In 1843, I obtained from the neighborhood of Long's 
Quarry, a considerable portion of the remains of the 
Basilosaurus found in the bank of Pearl Eiver. 

Joints of the vertebra, of which examples may be 
seen in the State cabinet, sometimes measure more than 
a foot in length, and about eight inches in diameter, 
giving to one having the slightest knowledge of compara- 
tive anatomy, a tolerable conception of the proportions 
of this gigantic animal — the largest, perhaps, of all ani- 
mals whose remains have ever been discovered, being 
from eighty to one hundred feet in length. 

Remains of this animal appear first to have been 
noticed in Louisiana, having been first described by 
Dr. Harlan in 1835, from specimens sent him by Judge 
Bry, from the Washitta, in Louisiana. 

Similar remains were subsequently discovered in 
Arkansas, and much more abundantly in Clark County, 
Alabama, than elsewhere. 

A skeleton, made up from portions obtained in differ- 
ent localities in Alabama, was taken to Europe for exhi- 
bition under the name of " Hydrarchos Sillimani" — a 
representation of which, after being reconstructed on 
anatomical principles, may be seen in the IconograpMc 
EncydopcEdia, being the central figure on Plate 39. 
The peculiar and characteristic teeth are also shown on 
the same Plate, figures 60 and 61. 

Subsequently, when it was ascertained to be more 
nearly allied to the cetacean than to the reptilian order 
of animals, Dr. Owen, the distinguished comparative 
anatomist of Great Britain, proposed the name of 



278 GEOLOGY. 

Zeuglodon Harlani, from the yoke-like form of the teeth, 
and in honor of Dr. Harlan, who first described and in- 
troduced it to the notice of the scientific world. 

The original name is, however, retained by many in 
respect to the rule established among naturalists which 
regards the rights of priority of discovery. 

It has also been named the Squalodon, Phocodon, and 
the Dorudon, and for a further description of which the 
reader is referred to the Monograph of Dr. Robert W. 
Gibbes, published with figures in the first volume of the 
second series of the Journal of the Academy of Natural 
Sciences, Philadelphia. 

In Mississippi, these remains occur in other localities 
than those mentioned. The detached vertebra have 
been found in the City of Jackson, and the immediate 
vicinity, at Ball Prairie, about six miles to the west; 
and in Jones's Prairie, Section 15, Township 9, Range 
4 E., in Madison County. 

In Scott and Smith Counties they are frequently seen, 
and are said to abound in Clark. 

The vertebra and ribs are obtained in nearly a perfect 
state ; the head, being composed of many separate bones 
or plates held together only by the muscular integument, 
is rarely found united, and but few perfect teeth have 
been obtained. 

In reference to their variety, their unquestionable 
foreign origin, and the changed condition from an origi- 
nally calcareous material to the diversified forms of sili- 
fication in which they now exist, the fossils of the drift 
compose a group highly interesting, if not unique. 

Of this metamorphosis, or conversion of lime into 
silex. Dr. Troost, the Geologist of Tennessee, whose loss 
to the State has been greatly deplored, remarks: "This 
change in the chemical nature of these remains is cer- 



GEOLOGY. 279 

taiiily unaccountable. The Polyperfers, for instance, are, 
when in their live state, of a calcareous nature, yet we 
find them now in the strata of our limestones changed 
into silex." And in this, he further observes, " They 
differ from the organic substances of other countries." 

Many of these organic remains, supposed to have been 
derived from the silurian rocks, consist of the stony 
axis or skeletons of polypi, comprising the petrified 
corals, which, as a class, have been generally designated 
as madrepores, by the misapplication of a term belonging 
properly to a single genus, and include the favosites 
astreas, cyathophylla catenepora, &c. of many species, 
and of great variety in the size, structure, and arrange- 
ment or grouping of the cells. Some of the favosites, 
from the size and form of the cells, by a very popular 
fallacy have been regarded as petrified honeycomb. 

These, however numerous, are not all the organic 
remains which enter into this group. 

The trilobite, which, in its native lime rock, is gene- 
rally found of rather delicate or fragile texture, is here 
met with occasionally, either detached, or its [form im- 
pressed or wholly incorporated in the chert or jaspery 
pebble, more durable than granite. 

Specimens belonging to the genera calymene and 
asaphus have been recognized, 

Gorgonia, fenestrella, stems of crinoidea or encrenites, 
as well as orthocera and cyathophyllum, are found in 
similar condition, all, but most especially the corals, par- 
taking more or less of the mineral character of the 
associated agates and chalcedony, which, as has before 
been stated, abound in the drift. 

Some of these, when cut and polished by the lapidary, 
form gems of much beauty, and have been greatly ad- 
mired. 



280 GEOLOGY. 

Petrified wood, although found in most parts of the 
State, seems to occur most abundantly in the vicinity of 
the Big Sand and Bayou Pierre, in a limited district, 
including parts of the Counties of Claiborne, Hinds, and 
Copiah ; and the petrifactions of the family of endogenous 
plants or palms seem in a great measure peculiar to it. 

Many species of the palms, in various conditions 
of silicification, and apparently lapidified by different 
mineralizing agents, have been obtained here. These, 
as well as the woods seemingly allied to or identical- 
with species of the present age and climate, occur in 
forms and in characters exceedingly diversified, and of 
high interest in connection with the commonly received 
theories of petrifaction, the fibre texture and the color 
of the wood being often preserved or most wonderfully 
simulated in the process of replacement by mineral 
atoms ; suggesting, in some instances, the idea of an 
instant conversion of the former into the present ma- 
terial. 

Agatized specimens are common. Wood opal is also 
met with ; and other specimens bear a striking simili- 
tude to jasper, jet, or obsidian, and to chalcedony. 

Woods are seen transmuted into a fine translucent 
carnelian, revealing the minutest details of structure 
and fibre. 

Sometimes an asbestiform appearance is presented, or 
a resemblance of fibrous gypsum, with minute, splintery, 
acicular crystals ; and a fine white porcelain is counter- 
feited most successfully. 

Although I have scarcely met with an example of the 
palms beyond this locality, the exogenous plants are of 
more general distribution, and having succinctly stated 
some of the aspects which the fossil woods here present, 



GEOLOGY. 281 

I will detail some of the localities and conditions in 
which the latter class have been noticed. 

The asbestiform petrifactions have been observed in 
places near which the gypseous marls occur, as in the 
vicinity of the Mississippi Springs, in Hinds, and near 
Pearl River, in Leake County. Trunks of trees of this 
description, of considerable size, are seen on elevated 
grounds, and generally of a chalk-like whiteness. 

A portion of the trunk of a tree, some two feet in 
diameter, originally, is to be seen imbedded in the road, 
about seventeen miles north of Bolochitto Bridge, in the 
northern part of Hancock County, on a high, sandy 
ridge. It is of a white porcelain character, of very 
close, compact texture, the ends, however, of a splintery 
asbestiform appearance. 

On Section 45, Township 7, Range 1 W., in Adams 
County, several sections of six or eight feet in length, 
and two feet in diameter, split through the middle in 
equal parts, present themselves in a sandy cove, which 
indents the high land bordering the bottom of a branch 
of Cole's Creek. 

Some very large trunks lie also, at the foot of the 
White Cliffs, on the Mississippi, but are only to be seen 
at extreme low water. 

At Dr. Grant's, in Copiah County, some large trunks 
lie partially exposed on the declivity of the high lands, 
on the western side of the Bayou Pierre, about eighty 
feet above the water-level of the stream; and at Mr. 
Lloyd's, about two miles distant, on a site of similar 
elevation, in sinking a well at eighty feet below the sur- 
face, a similar tree was encountered. These were very 
solid, but rather coarse-grained petrifactions. 

In the bed of the Bayou Pierre, within a mile of Mr. 
Lloyd's, there are many blocks of the Grand Gulf sand- 



282 GEOLOGY. 

stone. In one of these, of considerable size, of a bluish 
color, and of extreme hardness, is imbedded a petrified 
trunk with projecting branches. The character and 
appearance of this rock, have before been described, 
and it may be mentioned that, with the exception of 
some impressions or casts of leaves, and of small seed- 
vessels noticed at Grand Gulf, this is the only fossil seen 
imbedded in it. 

For more than twenty years past, the existence of a 
standing petrified tree, in the Scutchaloe Hills, a ridge 
dividing the waters of the Bayou Pierre and Big Sand, 
in Claiborne County, had been repeatedly asserted and 
generally believed. 

A petrified forest, in a sandy desert near Cairo, in 
Egypt, has been often described, in which the stumps of 
trees yet stand erect above the surface, and has been 
accounted for satisfactorily, by the shifting sands in 
which it had formerly been involved. And indications 
of a similar character have been reported in connection 
with the district known as the Cross Timbers, in Texas. 

I need not, therefore, remark upon the interest that 
would attach to an isolated specimen of a single tree of 
this character, or speak of my desire to examine it. 
My search, however, at diJBferent times, although guided 
by persons who were familiar with the region, was 
fruitless. 

But I found, at several places, large trunks of silicified 
trees, lying on the surface of some of the most elevated 
ridges. 

At one place, the trunks of two trees, about three 
feet in diameter, lie in close proximity. Along one of 
these, broken into several sections, I measured sixty-five 
feet to its first or principal bifurcation, beyond which, 
fragments of less diameter, doubtless portions of the 



GEOLOGY. 283 

principal branches, were seen extending some distance 
further, rather out of the direct line of the trunk. It 
might be rash to assert that these trees lie where they 
grew ; yet they present strong indications that such is 
the fact. 

The but-end, or larger extremity of the principal 
one, although exhibiting no distinct roots above the 
ground, presents that curvature or enlargement of out- 
line, that is seen at the base of a standing tree, formed 
by the expansion of the roots in the earth. It had also 
the appearance of a tree, which, being considerably ad- 
vanced in a state of decay, had been broken by falling 
across a rather sharp ridge before silicification took place. 
It now lies only slightly imbedded, in a fine white 
sandy soil. 

In the lake marl, which occupies the lacustrine beds of 
the drift period, we find a few fossil testacea, such as the 
lymnsea, succinea, cyclas, two species of planorbis, and a 
very small paludina. 

One species of the planorbis, a very minute one, and 
the paludina mentioned, are not now found living in our 
waters ; the others belong to existing species. 

The testacea of the loess, or loam, referred to the same 
period, are, on the contrary, all terrestrial, embracing 
several species of helices or snails, all of which, it is be- 
lieved, are yet found living in different parts of the Con- 
tinent, although some of them seem to have disappeared, 
or to have now no living representative in the fauna of 
this region. 

Among the species most numerous, may be enumerated 
the Helix albolabris, alternata, concava, elevata, fraterna, 
perspectiva, profunda, thyroides, tridentata, &c. 

The great bone bed of the Mississippi, or the depository 



284 GEOLOGY. 

of the extinct mammalia, is also found in the loess, the 
limits of which have already been defined. Throughout 
its extent the remains of the mastodon have been dis- 
covered. 

Fossil remains of the elephant, although occurring in 
Kentucky and Texas, are not known to have been found 
in this State. 

The mastodon differs from the mammoth, or fossil 
elephant, with which it is confounded, chiefly, in the 
structure of the molars, those of the mastodon being 
invested with an exterior coating of enamel, the grind- 
ing surfaces presenting a series of mammillary protuber- 
ances; whereas, in those of the mammoth the enamel is 
disposed in vertical transverse plates. The former also 
surpasses the latter in dimensions. 

Mastodon bones have been obtained in Bayou Sara, 
near Pinckneyville, in Wilkinson County, in various 
localities in Adams County, in Jefferson County, near 
the former town of Greenville, and in Warren County; 
in the deep cut of the railroad at Vicksburg ; and in the 
vicinity of the Big Black River, near the eastern line of 
the county. 

In a few localities, such as the accompanying testacea 
would indicate to have been the beds of fresh-water 
ponds or marshes, considerable portions of the skeleton 
have been found together, as if the animal may have 
perished there, and in such cases the bones are frequently 
in contact with considerable masses of a black, fatty 
earth entirely dissimilar from the surrounding marl, and 
which may reasonably be supposed to have resulted from 
the decomposition of the viscera, and the other perish- 
able animal matter; but most usually the bones appear 
detached, as if drifted into their present position ; and 
consequently, it is not unusual to find a tusk, or a molar, 



GEOLOGY. 285 

a bone of the leg, or a joint of the vertebra, where no 
other vestiges are seen. 

The most prolific locality of these remains is in 
Adams County, on Pine Ridge, in Townships 7 and 8, 
Range 3 W., about six miles north of Natchez, where a 
large and deep ravine has extended its ramifications over 
an area of several miles, and which, in its undermining 
progress of denudation, has been constantly exposing 
these remains for more than forty years, or from a period 
coeval with the first cultivation of the country through 
which it has its course. 

The bones generally lie from ten to twenty feet below 
the general surface, and in the ravine on Pine Ridge, the 
remains of other animals have been found associated with 
them. 

Among these, may be enumerated those of the mega- 
lonyx, an animal provided with claws of great magnitude 
and strength, the bony axis of the nail itself being about 
four inches in length; and the Tapir [Tapirus Ameri- 
cana), now extinct here, but still living in South Ame- 
rica; a lower maxillary bone containing the molars, 
and some detached teeth, being the only portions of the 
latter known to have been procured. These, together 
with the femur and claws of the megalonyx, have been 
submitted to the examination of Dr. Leidy, who is pre- 
paring a monograph descriptive of them. 

Besides these, the teeth of the fossil horse and ox are 
frequently found. Those of the bos are referred by Dr. 
Leidy, in his account of them published in the fifth 
volume of the Smithsonian Contributions to Knoioledge, 
to the Bison latifrons. 

It would seem, by the discovery of these remains, that 
the horse, although not found on this Continent when 



286 



GEOLOGY. 



first discovered, once had a place here among the ani- 
mals now extinct. 

I am indebted to Dr. Leidy for the following list of 
fossil mammalia found in the State : — 



Felis atrox, Leidy. 
Ursus Americanus, fossilis. 
Ursus amplidens, Leidy. 
Equus Americanus, Leidy. 
Cervus Virginianus, fossilis. 
Bison latifrons, Leidy. 
Bootherium cavifrons, Leidy. 
Elephus primigenius. 



Tapirus Americanus, fossilis. 
Tapirus Haysii, Leidy. 
Megalonyx JefFersonii, Harlan. 
Megalonyx dissimilis, Leidy. 
Mylodon Harlauii, Oicen. 
Ereptedon priscus, Leidy, 

and the 
Mastodon giganteus. 



The following tables furnish a catalogue of a consider- 
able portion of the Tertiary testacea of the State. Many 
rich fields of these not being yet explored, the newly 
discovered and undescribed species will hereafter be given. 



GEOLOGY. 



287 



Fossils of the Vichshurg Eocene Beds. Described by 
T. A. Conrad, Esq. 

(See Journ. of Acad. Nat. Sciences of Philad., Vol. I. PI. 11, 12, 13, 14, and Vol. II. p. 1.) 



Acteon Anderson!. 
Avicula argentea. 
Amphidesma Mississippiensis. 
Area Miss. 
Bulla crassiplica. 
Buccinum Miss. 
Bisoarca Miss. 

• lima. 

protracta. 

Catopygus ? 



Cyprasa sphseroides. 

lintea. 

Chenopus liratus. 
Cancellaria Miss. 

funerata. 

Cassidaria lintea. 
Cassis ctelatura. 

Miss. 

Caricella demisa. 
Cardium Vicksburgensis. 

oversum. 

diversum. 

Corbula engongata. 

intastriata. 

alta. 

Crasatella Miss. 
? 

Cytherea Miss. 

astartiformis. 

imitabilis. 

. sobrina. 

• perbrevis. 

semipunctata. 

pyga. 

lenis. 

lieiata. 

eversa. 

subimpressa. 

Cerithium siliceum. 

solitarium. 

nassuta. 

Claibornensis. 

Corbis staminea. 
Chama Miss. 



Clavelithes Vieks. 

pachyleurus. 

Cardita bilineata. 

subquadrata. 

subrotunda. 

vigintinaria. 

densata. 

Catopygus Conradi. 
Dentalium Miss. 
Discoidea Haldermani. 
Fulgoraria Miss. 
Fulgar nodulatum. 
Fissurella Miss. 
Fusus Miss. 



spinger. 
Vieks. 



Infundibulum trochiformis. 
Loripes eburnea. 

turgida. 

Lueina perlevis. 
Lima staminea. 
Lithophaga Carolinaensis. 

Claib. 

Murex Miss. 

Melongena crassicornuta. 
Mitra conquesta. 

Miss. 

cellulifera. 

staminea. 

terebrseformis. 

Georgiana. 

Mactra funerata. 

Miss. 

Modiola Miss. 
Narica Miss. 
Natica Miss. 

Vioks. 

Nucula Vieks. 
■ serica. 



improcera. 

parilis. 

Claib. 



Oniscia harpula. 
Ostrea Vieks. 

Georgiana. 

Plurotoma Miss. 

porcellana. 

servata. 

congesta. 

cristata. 

tantula. 

tenella. 

eocblearis. 

eboroides. 

abundans. 

rotsedens. 

decliva. 

Phorus humilis. 
Psammobia papyria. 

Missi. 

Plolas triquetra. 
Panopaja oblongata. 
Pecten elixatus. 
Pectunculus Miss. 

arctatus. 

Pinna argentea. 
Ringicula Miss. 
Sagaretus Miss. 
Solarium triliratum. 
Scalaria trigintanaria. 
Turritella Miss. 
Terebra diversum. 

tantula. 

Turbinellus Wilsoni. 

protracta. 

Triton Miss. 

subalveatum. 

crassidens. 

abbreviatus. 



Tellina lintea. 

pectorosa. 

serica. 

perovata. 

— : Vieks. 



Nuoleolites Mortoni. 
Lyelli. 



288 



GEOLOGY. 



Since the publication of the preceding list of the 
Vicksburg fossils, it has been found that some of these 
fossils should be referred to different genera; priority of 
description rendering it proper, Mr. Conrad proposes to 
restore the original names. The following, therefore, 
must give way to the terms first applied by earlier 
naturalists. 



Bisoarea 


to Navicula. 


Chenopus 


to Aporrhais. 


Cassidaria 


to Morio. 


Citherea 


to Meretrix. 


Corbis 


to Fimbria. 


Fulgur 


to Busycon. 


lufundibulum to Trocliita. 


Loripa 


to Diplidonta. 


Melongena 


to Cassidula. 


Nucula 


to Leda. 


Pectimculus 


to Axinsea. 


Sigaretus 


to Stomatia. 


Solarium 


to Architectonica, 


Terebra 


to Acus. 



ra-lie. 2 8 9 



BIVALVES 



Plate XIV 




Crurno Uith by L.N. Rosenthal I'hil 

J\CKSON TEKTIi^Sf SHEllS 



PLATE XIV, -SHELLS 



BIY ALVES. 

1 a. Umbrella planulata {top). 
1 I. " "■ {bottom). 

2. Astarte paralis. 

3. Corbuld bicarinata. 

4. Leda multilineata. 

5. Navicula aspersa. 

6. Cardium nicoUeti. 
T. Crassatella flexura. 

8. Glossus fillosus. 

9. Corbula densata. 

10. Ostrea trigonalis. 

11. Pecten nuperum. 



Pa^e Z89 



UNrVALVES 



Plate XV 




JACKSON TERTtMY SHEL LS 



PLATE XY. -SHELLS 



UNIY ALY ES. 

1. Capulus Americanus. 

2. Clavelitlies humerosiis. 

3. Trochita alta, 

4. Mitra dumosa. 

5. Conus tortilus. 

6. Yolutalitlies symmetrica. 
*J a. b. Kostellaria vellata. 
8. Caricella subangulata. 



Pepe 289 



yNIVALVES 



Plate XVI 




^^x^:-v..^;^^^s^m^^^^:m^'^^..:- 



Cromo Lith by L,N. Rosenthal Phi/r 



JACKSON nHJIAM SHELLS 



PLATE XYI. -SHELLS. 



UNIYALYBS. 

1. Architectonica acuta. 

2. Architectonica bellastriata. 

3. a. h. Cypr^a pinguis. 

4. Gastridium vetustum. 

5. Cyprsea fenestratis. 

6. a. b. Phorus reclusug. 
t. Turritella alveata. 

8. Clavelitlies Mississippiensis. 

9. Morio Petersoni. (Galeodia, of Link.) 
10. Strepsidura dumosa. 



Pai>e^S9 



UWS VALVES 



Plate XV il 




J«1j 



JACKSON TERTIABY SHELLS 



CfomoLlth bjL «. (iosodthsl Phil, 



PLATE XYII. -SHELLS 



UNIVALVES, 

1. Volutalithes dumosa. 

2. ISTatica permunda, 

3. Rostellaria extenta. 

4. Caricella polita. 

5. Mitra Millingtoni. 

6. Scalaria nassuta. 

1. Clavelith.es varicosa. 

8. Teredo Mississippiensis. 

9. Kostellaria {young). 



GEOLOGY. 



289 



Fossil Testacea of the Tertiary Green-sand MarVbed of Jachson, Miss. 
Determined and named by T. A, Conrad, Esq. 



BIVAIiVES. 

Astarte. Lamark. 
Astartfrparilis. Con, 

€a,rdita. Brug. 
Cardita planicosta. Lam. 
Cardita tetrica. Con. 

Cardiuui. Lin. 
Cardium Nicolleti. Con. 

Corltula. Brug. 
Corbula densata. Con. 
Corbula bicarinata. Con. 

€ra§§atella. Lam. 
Crassatella flexura. Co7i. 

GlOSSHS. Poll. 
Glossus filosus. Con. 

liCda. Schum. 
Leda multilineata. Con. 

Meretrix. Lam. 
Meretrix profunda. Con. 

Navicula. Blain. 
Navicula aspersa. Con. 

©strea. Lin. 

Ostrea trigonalis. Con. ■ 

Pecten. Lin. 
Pecten nuperum. Con. 

MSJI^TIVAIiTE. 

Teredo. Lin. 
Teredo Mississippiensis. Con. 

IIJVIVAL.TES. 

Arclaitectomca. Bolton. 
Architectonica bellastriata. Con. 
Architectonica acuta. Con. 

Capulus. Mont. 
Capulus Americanus. Con. 

19 



Cypraea. Lin. 
Cyprsea fenestratis. Con. 
Cyprsea penguis. Con. 

Conus. Lin. 
Conus tortilus. Con. 

Caricella. Con. 
Caricella polita. Con. 
Caricella subaugulata. Con. 

Clavalitlies. Sivain. 
ClaTelithes humerosus. Go7i. 
Clavelithes varicosus. Con. 
Clavelithes Mississippiensis. Con. 

Gastridium. Sow. 
Gastridium vetustum. Con. 

Natica. Adan. 
Natica permunda. Con. 

Mitra. Hump. 
Mitra Millingtoni. Con. 
Mitra dumosa. Con. 

Morio. 

Morio Petersoni. Con. 

Pborus. 3Iont. 
Phorus reclusus. Con. 

Rosiellaria. Lam. 
Rostellaria vellata. Con. 
Rostellaria extenta. Con. 

Scalaria. Lam. 
Scalaria nassuta. Con. 

Strepsidiira. Swain. 
Stre]3sidura dumosa. Con. 

TrocE&ita. Schum. 
Trochita alta. Con. 

Usiabrella. Lam. 

Umbrella planulata. Con. 

Tolutalitlies. Su'ain. 
Volutalithes dumosa. Con. 
Volutalithes symmetrica. Con. 



290 GEOLOGY. 



ANALYSIS. 

It is well known that some soils are, by nature, un- 
suited to the production of particular plants, even where 
climate and other conditions would favor their cultiva- 
tion, and that from other soils, originally prolific, the 
productive elements are continually abstracted in the 
course of tillage until, in the end, they become exhausted 
and sterile. It is the province of Agricultural Che- 
mistry, therefore, to determine the elements of plants 
derived from the earth in which they grow, and the 
presence or deficiency of those elements in the soils in 
which they are cultivated, in such manner as to make 
this knowledge available to the husbandman, and to in- 
struct him also in the chemical composition of the ma- 
nures, animal or mineral^; proper to be applied to supply 
the exhaustion, or to fit the otherwise unfruitful soil for 
his purpose. As to the practical value of analysis of 
soils as usually conducted, or the ability, in the present 
state of chemical knowledge, of determining those minute 
constituents in a soil — such as alkali or potash and, 
phosphoric acid — generally regarded as the greatest 
cause of fertility, eminent chemists are at issue, and, in 
our own country, many distinguished for high scientific 
attainments are found to agree with Boussingault, that 
we are much less interested in the chemical composition 
of the soil than in its mechanical mixture. 

But, whatever may be the differences of opinion as to 
the value of analysis of soils, and whether the benefits 
would justify the expense attending the minute and mul- 
tiplied chemical examinations required to impart a useful 



GEOLOGY. 291 

knowledge of their properties, there can be none as to 
those of the marls or mineral fertilizers employed, as no 
one would be willing to apply an ingredient to his land 
which a simple test might prove to be not only unsuita- 
ble, but absolutely pernicious. In view of the general 
use into which they must come eventually, when their 
existence and value shall be better known, adequate 
analyses of all the varieties of marls which abound in 
the State are highly desirable. 

As yet, few have been made, and we are in a great 
degree left to conjecture their probable value and im- 
portance from the general aspect which they present, 
and from the character of the attendant fossils, as well 
as from the effects which similar substances Have pro- 
duced in other States where they have been extensively 
used. 

Such analyses as I have been able to procure of our 
marls, as well as those of the cotton plant and our 
mineral waters are here subjoined. 

Analysis of Lake Marl, Washington, Adams Coxmly. 

Insoluble silica ....... 17.44 

Peroxide of iron 7.10 

Carbonate of lime . . . • . . . 70.44 

Potash . . . . . . . . . 3.64 

Soda . . . . . • • • • .SB 

Magnesia , . , . « • • • .64 

Soluble silica . . . . ... .a trace 

99.62 

"This will be found a valuable fertilizer; it contains 
almost half the amount of potash which the green-sands 
of New Jersey do." — January, 1847: Dr. Emmons. 



292 GEOLOGY. 

Indurated Marl, or the Rotten Zdmestone of the Prairies, according to 

Dr. Troost. 

Carbonate of lime ....... 51.00 

Earthy matter, insoluble in water, composed of green- 
sand and particles of white silvery mica . . 34.00 
Carbonaceous matter ...... 2.00 

Alumina, water, and loss . . . . . 13 00 



100.00 
" The particles of green-sand are very minute, and 
are only perceptible with the aid of the microscope." 

Composition of the Green-sand Marl of New Jersey. 

By Prof. H. D. Rogers. 

Silex . . . . ■ . . . . . 51.00 

Protoxide of iron . . . . . . . 25.10 

Alumina . . . . . . . . 7.50 

Potash 9.30 

Water 6.50 

Lime ,......,. a trace 



99.40 
'^•'In a few instances, the deposits are a pure green- 
sand. The composition of the marl in a great number 
of instances is green-sand, clay, and quartzose sand j the 
green-sand varying from 35 to 95 per cent." 



Analyses of Green-sand oj 


^ Tennessee. 


By Dr. 


Troost. 


Silica .... 


48.00 


45.30 


51.70 


Protoxide of iron 


20.70 


18.00 


21.20 


Alumina .... 


7.00 


6.20 


6.50 


Potash . . . 


10.10 


10.40 


11.30 


Carbonate of lime 


5.70 


10.80 


2.00 


Water . ... 


8.00 


8.50 


7.30 


Loss .... 


.50 


.80 


0.00 



100.00 100.00 100.00 

The foregoing analyses of the green-sand of Tennes- 
see will probably be found to assimilate more nearly to 
the lower green-sands of Mississippi. 



GEOLOGY. 



293 



Analysis of Cotton from the Santee in South Carolina. Made by 
Prof. Shepard. 



COTTON WOOL. 




Carbonate of potassa . . . . . 


. 44.19 


Phosphate of lime, with traces of magnesia 


25.44 


Carbonate of lime 


8.87 


Carbonate of magnesia ..... 


6.85 


Silica 


4.12 


Alumina, probably accidental .... 


1.40 


Sulphate of potassa ...... 


2.70 


Chlorite of potassium 






Chloride of magnesia 






Sulphate of lime 


' and loss . 


6.43 


Phosphate of potassa 






Oxalic lime in minute traces 







COTTON SEED. 

Phosphat^e of lime, with traces of magnesia 

Phosphate of potassa, with traces of soda 

Sulphate of potassa 

Silica . . . 

Carbonate of lime . 

Carbonate of magnesia 

Chloride of potassium 

Carbonate of potassa 

Sulphate of lime 

Sulphate of magnesia ^ and loss 

Alumina and oxides of iron 

Manganese in traces 



Analysis of the Fibre of Sea Island Cotton. 
Carbonate of potash 
Muriate of potash . 
Sulphate of potash 
Phosphate of lime 
Carbonate of lime 
Phosphate of magnesia 
Peroxide of iron 
Alumina a trace, and loss 



ByDr 



100.00 

61.64 

31.51 

2.55 

1.74 

.41 

.26 

.25 



1.64 

100.00 

. Ure. 

44.08 
9.09 
9.03 
9.00 

10.06 
8.04 
3.00 
5.00 



100.00 



294 





GEOLOGT 


• 








Analysis of Cotton Stalk. By Dr. J. Lawrence Smith. 


Lime . 


303.00 


Potash 










243.00 


Phosphoric acid . 










91.00 


Magnesia 










58.00 


Oxide of iron 










4.00 


Sulphuric acid 










. 13.00 


Chlorine 










8.00 


Carbonic acid 










270.00 


Sand . 










5.00 



995.00 



Analysis of the Ash of a Cotton Stalk, of the Mexican Variety, grown 
on the Mississippi near Bruinshurg. Made, at the Yale Analytical 
Laboratory, by Orange Judd. 

Potash 29.58 



Lime 
Magnesia 
Chlorine 
Phosphoric acid 
Sulphuric acid 
Silica 



24.34 

3.73 

.65 

34.92 
3.54 
3.24 

100.00 



Analysis of the Water of Coope7''s Well, Hinds County, 3Iississij>pi. 
By David Stewart, M. D. 

REACTION ACIDS. 

Specific gravity, 1004.3. 

Solid contents of one gallon, 150.2 grains. 

COMPOSED OE IODINE, AS — 



Hydriodate of potash. 

" of soda. 

" of lime. 

" of magnesia. 

Hydrochlorate of iron. 



Hydrochlorate of lime. 

" of magnesia. 

Sulphate of soda. 

" of potash. 

" of magnesia. 



GASEOUS CONTENTS. 

Sulphuretted hydrogen. Carbonic acid. Nitrogen. 



GEOLOGY. 



295 



Chemical Examination of Cooper's Well Water, Hinds County. 
By Dr. J. Lawrence Smith. Made December, 1851. 

Temperature, 64° Fahr., the air being at 50°. 

Taste, not unpleasant. 

Odor, little or none. 

Color, transparent, with small yellow flakes floating on it. 

Specific gravity, 1.00147. 

Gras contained in one wine gallon, in cubic inches : — 

Oxygen . . . ... . . 1.05 

Nitrogen . ... . . . , 4.05 

Carbonic acid .... . . . 4.00 

Solid contents of one gallon, 105 grains, composed as follows: — 
Sulphate of soda . 11.705 



Sulphate of magnesia 
Sulphate of lime . 
Sulphate of potash 
Sulphate of alumina 
Chloride of sodium 
Chloride of calcium 
Chloride of magnesium 
Peroxide of iron . 
Crenate of lime . 
Silica . 



23.280 

42.122 

.608 

6.120 

8.360 

4.322 

3.480 

3.352 

.311 

1.801 



105.471 

The deposit which collects in concentrating the water contains, in 100 
grains — 

Water 38.00 

Crenate of lime . . . . . . .2.00 

Sulphate of lime 25.00 

Peroxide of iron . 35.00 

100.00 



Analysis of the Water of Ocean Springs, near JBaluxi, in Jackson 
County, Miss. By J. Lawrence Smith, M. D. 

The water colorless, even when kept in bottles for a length of time, pro- 
vided the bottles be well corked; as soon as opened, the water begins 
to blacken, from a deposit of sulphur of iron; the odor of the water 



296 GEOLOGY. 

is that of sulphuretted hydrogen, which the water contains in con- 
siderable quantity; the taste, that known to belong to this class of 
waters. 

Specific gravity, 1.00082. 

Gaseous contents in one gallon in grains : — 

Carbonic acid ....... 4.632 

Sulphuretted hydrogen 481 

Solid contents of one gallon in grains: — 

Chloride of sodium 47.770 

Chloride of calcium . . . . . .3.882 

Chloride of magnesia ...... 4.989 

Protoxide of iron ...... 4.712 

Iodine, a strong trace. 
Chloride of potassium, a trace. 
Organic matter, a trace. 
Alumina, a trace. 

The iron doubtless in combination with both the sulphuretted and car- 
bonic acid gases, the excess of the carbonic acid holding both these 
combinations in solution. 



Y. METEOROLOGY. 



As introductory to the subjoined meteorological tables, 
it may be remarked that here, as in other and older 
States, few are found who have made such observations, 
or have persevered in them for a long period. 

The tables of the late Dr. Henry Tooley, of Natchez, 
are perhaps the fullest, most continuous, and uninter- 
rupted, and extend through a greater period of time, 
than those of any other similar observations known to 
have been made in the State. 

Those given in this report were compiled, chiefly from 
the notes of Dr. Tooley, by Mr. G. L. C. Davis, for the 
Southern Mural Almanac, published by Mr. Affleck, in 
1852, who is entitled to credit for thus preserving them. 

I am indebted to Dr. Coleman, of Jefferson County, 
and to Alexander H, Pegues, Esq., of Lafayette, for 
their observations made for several years past on the 
fall of rain, and to Mr. Oakley, of Jackson, for the use 
of his Meteorological Register, kept for the Smithsonian 
Institution; all of these will be found in the following 
pages, and will form interesting matter for reference. 
Other materials have been collected in relation to meteo- 
rology generally; but these, not being as full and com- 
plete as is desired, or as they can hereafter be made, 
will be reserved for a future report. 



298 METEOROLOGY. 

I will only add, in answer to inquiries from abroad, 
that I have no authenticated instance of the fall of me- 
teoric iron or stone in the State. 

The past year (1853) has been a remarkable one for 
its atmospheric variations. An unusually late spring, 
of excessive drought, succeeded by profuse rains in the 
summer, occasioned an injury to the crops, for which 
the long-continued mild and favorable season for cotton 
picking could not make amends. In Adams County, so 
mild and genial was the latter part of the year, that the 
cotton continued to grow and blossom until the night of 
the 8th of December, when the first killing frost occurred. 



METEOROLOGY. 



299 



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300 



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302 



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METEOROLOGY. 



305 



Statement of the Amount of Rain (in inches) that fell at Church Hill, 
Jefferson County, Mississippi, during the years 1850, '51, '52, and 
'53. By Dr. Coleman. 



MONTH. 


1850. 


1851. 


1852. 


1853. 


January 


7.37 


2.25 


1.57 


.75 


February 












4.95 


9.85 


4.57 


7.92 


March 












2.41 


2.85 


3.08 


5.23 


April . 












6.87 


1.61 


3.89 


2.08 


May . 












5.49 


.96 


1.31 


4.75 


June . 












9.09 


1.03 


.24 


1.97 


July . 












3.55 


1.91 


3.38 


7.92 


August 












3.78 


5.16 


.81 


9.13 


September 










.70 


.46 


2.27 


1.37 


October 










.20 


3.27 


1.89 


' 4.19 


November 










2.47 


8.09 


5.10 


2.58 


December 










11.52 


6.64 


8.81 


4.83 








To 


tal 




57.40 


44.16 


37.00 


52.72 



The instrument by which the above facts were ascer- 
tained, is one of Pike's Conical Raingauges, with a scale 
attached graduated so as to determine the fall of 2^0 
part of an inch. 

It was placed in an open and exposed situation, ele- 
vated several feet above the surface of the ground, and 
at a distance from any building, trees, or shubbery. 



20 



306 



METEOROLOGY. 



Register of the Fall of Rain kept hy A. H. Pegues, Esq., at his 
Residence, near Oxford, Lafayette County, 31iss. 



January 

February 

March . 

April 

May 

June 

July 

August . 

September 

October 

November 

December 



Total 



1849. 


1850. 


1851. 


1852. 


H 


n 


h% 


915 


5 


6f 


14jf 


"T6 


41- 


lOi 


4A 


4A 


H 


81 


4A 


4tV 


41 


5 


4A 


2/6 


5| 


3i 


1 4 


1t^6 


n 


2f 




9 fi 


31 


61 


5 


4-2- 


2i 


Oi 


OA 


5 


Qi 


1 


2tV 


1 


21 


21 




4?g 


111 


8 


5^ 


VA 


63f 


62f 


48A 


4511 



1853. 



.80 
8.90 
8.30 
6.40 
3.00 
1.40 
4.20 
3.90 
6.00 
1.30 
1.30 
1.40 

46.90 



METEOROLOGY, 



307 



Meteorological Register of the Oaldand Institute, Jaclcson, 3Iiss., for 
1850 and 1851.* 





TEMPERATURE. 


DAILY VARIATION. 


Mean 


Fall of 


MONTH. 










tempera- 


rain. 




Highest. 


Lowest. 


Greatest. 


Least. 


ture. 




1850 












Inches. 


January . . 


27° 


38° 


25° 


4° 


54.53° 


14 


February 






83 


20 


33 


5 


51.49 


5.38 


March . 






85 


30 


32 


5 


59.06 


3.06 


April 






86 


38 


29 


4 


63.41 


9.70 


May. . 






90 


47 


27 


1 


68.52 


9.17 


June 






91 


53 


32 


3 


76.21 


3.40 


July 






90 


68 


20 


2 


80.09 


3.71 


August . 






93 


68 


20 


1 


81.54 


3.80 


September 






91 


56 


27 


8 


76.15 


0.43 


October 






90 


29 


43 


10 


65.70 


0.39 


November 






84 


23 


30 


7 


53.99 


1.25 


December 






81 


17 


34 


1 


47.50 


8.91 


1851 














January . . . 


76 


23 


33 


3 


50.16 


5.30 


February 






78 


29 


28 


1 


54.21 


9.50 


March . 






76 


32 


31 


4 


58.17 


1.82 


April 






80 


42 


9 


34 


63.14 


2.74 


May 






90 


42 


30 


2 


74.41 


2.30 


June 






92 


62 


20 


6 


77.88 


5.92 


July 






98 


62 


28 


7 


81.72 


0.98 


August . 






100 


65 


22 


4 


81.38 


3.16 


September 






95 


41 


31 


7 


76.75 




October 






90 


32 


44 


7 


63.52 


2.22 


November 






82 


25 


19 


2 


53.24 


9.23 


December . 






76 


20 


39 


1 


53.24 


8.11 



* Kept by the young ladies of the institution, under the supervision of Mr. and 
Mrs. Oakley. 



308 



METEOROLOGY. 



Meteorological Regider of the OaJcland Inatitute, Jacli,%on^ Miss., for 
1852 and 1853. (Continued.) 





TEMPERATURE. 


DAILY VARIATION. 


Mean 


Fall of 


MONTH. 










tempera- 
ture. 


rain. 




Highest. 


Lowest. 


Greatest. 


Least. 




1852 












Inches. 


January 


76° 


11° 


34° 


7 


38.79° 


2.02 


February 






79 


32 


31 


2 


53.47 


3.34 


March . 






86 


31 


31 


6 


63.58 


2.30 


April 






85 


37 


33 


5 


62.05 


3.68 ■ 


May 






88 


56 


26 


4 


72.07 


4.73 


June 






92 


34 


31 


7 


75-61 


4.09 


July 






94 


66 


21 


4 


79.30 


7.95 


August . 






92 


64 


24 


11 


78.17 


2.30 


September 






89 


52 


28 


3 


72.51 


2.89 


October 






88 


43 


36 


6 


67.87 


0.76 


November 






85 


27 


31 


2 


53.03 


5.50 


December 






, 78 


29 


37 


1 


54.84 


7.00 


1853 














January . . . 


69 


23 


34 


4 


44.80 


1.03 


February 






71 


25 


37 


2 


48.81 


7.64 


March . 






77 


32 


28 


2 


54.36 


9.21 


April . , 






85 


42 


29 


6 


65.71 


2.57 


May 






87 


48 


28 


7 


69.00 


2.19 


June 






92 


62 


27 


6 


77.56 


3.73 


July* . 






90 


61 


20 


4 


77.68 


7.73 



* These observations were here interrupted by the occurrence of the epidemic. 



YI. FAUNA. 



The animal kingdom comprehended under the term 
Zoology, is divided by naturalists into Vertebrate and 
Invertebrate animals. 

The Vertebrate, or those provided with a spinal 
column, or backbone, are subdivided into the following 
classes, namely: I. Mammalia, or beasts. II. Avis, or 
birds. III. Reptilia, or reptiles, and IV. Pisces, or fish. 

The Invertebrate comprises the following classes : I. 
Mollusca, or shell-fish. II, Articulata, or insects, and 
III. Radiata, which include star-fish, &c. 

The whole are arranged in their relative stations, ac- 
cording to their structure, characters, peculiarities, and 
habits; and the different species are grouped into genera, 
families, and orders, in conformity with systems pro- 
posed by naturalists, but in which perfect uniformity has 
not been attained. It is unnecessary, however, here to 
detail the principles of classification. 

The fauna of Mississippi will perhaps be found to 
afford few species not already described by naturalists, 
and which are not common to the adjacent States, and 
of these the limits of this report will not admit of a full 
descriptive list. A bare catalogue must for the present 
suffice, accompanied by such general remarks as may 
seem pertinent and necessary. 



310 



FAUNA. 



VERTEBRATA. 



Class I.— MAMMALIA. 

ANIMALS WHICH SUCKLE THEIR YOUNG BY TEATS. 



MARSUPITA. 
0idelpIildae. 



Didelphus Yirginiana. 



American opossum. 



CARRflVORA. 

VespertiJionidae. 

Yespertilio noveboracensis. Leather- wing bat. 

SoracidsB. 



Seal ops aquations. 


llrsidae. 


Shrew mole. 


IJrsus Americanus. 




Black bear. 


Procyon lotor. 


MustelidsB. 


Raccoon. 


MepMtis Americana. 




Polecat. 


Mustela vulgaris. 




Weasel. 


Mustela vison. 


LiUtridae. 


Mink. 


Lutra canadensis. 


Canidae. 


Otter. 


Lupus occidentalis. 




American wolf. 


Canis lupus. 




Black wolf. 


Vulpes Yirginianus, 


Felidae. 


Gray fox. 


Felis concolor. 




Northern panther. 


Lyncus rufus. 




Wild-cat. 



FAUNA. 



311 



RODEXTIA. 

Sciiiridae. 



Sciurus lucatis. 

S. capistratus. 
ti it 

Sciurus niger, 
S. striatus. 
Pteramys Yolucella. 

Castor fiber. 
Fiber zibethicus. 



Mus decumanus. 

Mus ? 

Sigmodon Mspidum. 
Mus musculus. 
Arvicola ? 



Lepus nanus. 
" Americanus. 
" sylvaticus. 
" aquaticus. 



Castoridae. 



Muridse. 



Leporidoe. 



Common gray squirrel. 
Red fox squirrel. 
Black fox squirrel. 
Small black squirrel. 
Ground squirrel. 
Flying squirrel. 



Beaver. 
Musk-rat. 



Common rat. 
Large wood rat. 
Cotton rat. 
Common mouse. 
Wood mouse. 



Common gray rabbit. 
American gray rabbit. 
Cane or wood rabbit. 
Swamp bare. 



Cervus Yirginianus. 



UWGUI.ATA. 
Cervidse. 



American deer. 



Eemarks. — In the arrangement of the preceding list, 
reference has been had to the quadrupeds of North 
America, by Audubon and Bachman, Dekay, in his Re- 
port on the Natural History of New York, and other writers. 
The list is believed to embrace nearly all of the mam- 
mals of the State, and none are claimed not found in it. 

Our domestic animals, such as horses, cattle, sheep, 
swine, &c., not found indigenous to the country at the time 



312 FAUNA. 

of its discovery, but being since introduced from Europe, 
will not be further noticed; nor will the extinct species 
that formerly had an existence in our limits, of which 
we have now only the fossil remains. 

The latter, such as the mastodon, megalonyx, zeuglo- 
don, mososaurus, tapir, &c., those colossal and antique 
forms of animal existence, will find a more appropriate 
place; constituting a prominent feature of the palaeon- 
tology of the State, they will under that head occupy 
their proper position in this report. 

Of the Opossum, it may be said that it continues to 
be quite abundant even in the older settled and most 
densely populated parts of the State, notwithstanding 
that it is the favorite game of the negroes, by whom it 
is much hunted and highly esteemed. The flesh is re- 
garded by many as truly an epicurian dish, in despite of 
popular prejudice, and the fat is said to possess a mild- 
ness that never cloys. 

The abdominal pouch with which it is provided, for 
rearing and sheltering its young, has ever excited the 
curiosity and stimulated the inquiries of the naturalist; 
and its office, connected with the gestation and parturi- 
tion of the animal, has been much discussed. 

The speculations on the subject, and the problem 
whether the young is originally produced in the exterior 
sack, or pouch, in connection with the mamm^, as has 
been supposed by some, or receives its early development 
in the uterus, has only been recently solved satisfactorily 
by the patient and minute investigations of Audubon 
and Bachman. 

How curious is the structure of our miniature ptero- 
dactyle, the bat, the connecting link between the deni- 
zens of the air, and those of earth? Its large crape-like 
leather wing is a study of itself. 



FAUNA. 313 

Of more grovelling instinct is our Mole, of which it 
is not known that we have more than one species, and 
he rarely " blunders into light." 

Although the traces of his burrowing are common 
enough in our gardens, it is not complained of for much 
damage, and this is doubtless compensated for by the 
destruction of the larvae of insects more mischievous. 
How striking are the form and flesh-like resemblance of 
its fore feet, with the palms turned outward, to the 
human hand. 

Bruin, once so numerous that, sixty years since, one 
hundred were killed in a single winter's hunt, between 
Natchez and the Homochitto, has now withdrawn to 
gloomy recesses and almost impenetrable canebrakes, 
from which he makes an occasional foray, and levies 
contributions upon the hogpens of the frontier settlers, 
or revels in the milky sweets of the maturing maize of 
convenient plantations, breaking down the stalks and 
gathering them in a bed around him to feast at leisure. 
The lean flesh is dark and coarse, but is highly esteemed 
by many, and the oil is much valued for the cuisine and 
the toilet. 

The sides or middlings of a fat bear, cured as bacon, 
none can condemn, resembling the rich brisket of the 
beef, and vying with the vaunted buffalo hump in texture 
and flavor. 

Nearly as abundant as the possum is the Raccoon, 
although equally hunted, not so much for his flesh as his 
hide, which commands from the dealers in peltry a price 
sufficiently remunerating to make his capture an object. 
His depredations on young corn in the field forms an 
additional motive for his destruction. He is taken ordi- 
narily at night with the common cur dog, or under baited 



314 FAUNA. 

logs set as dead falls. "When overtaken in the day, he 
has been known to flay possum, and simulate death. 

When Iberville made his first settlement at Baluxi, 
Raccoons were very numerous upon the islands on the 
coast, and were mistaken by the French for the cat; 
hence the name which one of those islands yet bears. 

The Polecat! Faugh! Mepliitic, indeed! Strange it 
is that from an animal so beautiful should proceed a 
fetor so abominable. Surely, its " offence was rank and 

smelt to ," when Father Charlevoix named this 

little animal " I'enfant du diable." 

Since the Indians have left the State, the Otter has 
become more abundant, and is evidently on the increase. 
The skin is less in demand for the felt than for dressing 
with the fur on, and is chiefly used when so prepared 
for hunting-pouches and caps. The otter is often shot 
with the rifle about mill-ponds. 

The Wolf, like the Bear, has been driven into retire- 
ment, and is now rarely seen in the older settled parts 
of the country. Wolves are still numerous, however, 
in the sparsely settled districts of the State, and emerge 
in packs occasionally from their fastnesses, on marauding 
excursions to the neighboring sheepfolds, and, with a 
wasteful prodigality of blood, destroy and mangle ten 
times as much as they can devour. 

They are taken in pens or traps made of poles, and 
baited with fresh meat, which is previously dragged over 
the ground for miles through the woods near their 
haunts, to lure them on the trail. Pits are also con- 
structed with a slight covering of twigs and leaves, into 
which they fall in attempting to reach the bait sus- 
pended over them. 

The Gray Fox only is known with us, and, although 
less hunted than in other States, is not very numerous. 



FAUNA. 315 

The destruction which would be occasioned to the cotton 
crop, forbids a too free indulgence in the exciting chase. 

Occasionally, the tribute of a bale of cotton may be 
paid for a hrush; less could not well be destroyed in an 
ordinary run of a full pack. This is, therefore, too ex- 
pensive an amusement to be made a practice of 

The Panther is now rarely met with, except in dense 
and extensive swamps and canebrakes. 

Our Wild-cat, however, is rather inconveniently nu- 
merous, even in the settled and cultivated districts. He 
is not the cowardly and timid animal that our natural- 
ists describe, but has often been known to attack man. 

Several instances of this have occurred in Adams 
County, the oldest settled part of the State. They have 
entered negro cabins, and seized the children, and one 
was known to attack a gang of field-hands in open day, 
when hoeing cotton, severely lacerating some of them 
and the overseer, before he was overcome. 

Of Squirrels, the most numerous are the Gray and 
Bed Fox Squirrel. 

In the thickly settled portions of the State, where the 
timber has become scarce, they have been much dimi- 
nished. The Gray Squirrel, especially, is greatly exposed 
from a habit which it seems difficult for him to over- 
come. His inclination, when running up a tree, to 
pause and take a peep at his enemy, seems irresistible, 
and is generally fatal. 

The Fox Squirrel is more artful, concealing himself 
very adroitly by stretching himself out, and lying flat 
upon the upper part of a projecting limb, in such a 
manner as to be protected from the shot. 

The little striped Ground Squirrel, and the Flying 
Squirrel, are now not often met with. The distance 
which the latter will sail (rather than fly), from tree to 



316 FAUNA. 

tree, by extending his limbs, and expanding the mem- 
brane or skin connecting his fore and hind legs along his 
sides, is truly surprising; the direction is always 
obliquely downward. 

The small Black Squirrel confines himself chiefly to 
the low-lands or swamps that are annually inundated. 

Our naturalists have been strangely in error as to the 
geographical distribution of the Beaver. DeKay assigns 
New York as his southern limit, and Audubon and Bach- 
man state that they have never seen a Beaver in Lou- 
isiana, although they have been informed that it formerly 
existed there. 

The same cause which has occasioned the preservation 
of the Otter (the departure of the Indians from the 
country), has tended to the increase of the Beaver, which 
may now be said to be abundant in the State. They 
are found in nearly all of our principal streams, and 
have become rather troublesome in some situations in 
flooding plantations by means of their dams. 

A few winters since, a party from Ohio spent the 
season in taking Beaver on the Homochitto, and in 
many quarters some of our old hunters habitually trap 
for them. 

Our space does not admit of giving details of the 
habits and character of this interesting animal, and I 
must refer those curious in the matter to the Quadru- 
peds of North America, and DeKay's Natural History 
Report of New York. 

The Weasel, Mink, and Muskrat, exist in the State; 
the latter in the salt-water creeks near the sea-shore, 
and the former in the northern counties of the State. 

Our large domestic rat is in some situations very nu- 
merous and troublesome, and the terrier and house-cat 
are called in requisition frequently, to suppress them. 



FAUNA. 317 

The cotton rat I include in our catalogue, on the au- 
thority of Audubon and Bachman, although I do not 
identify it from the figures they have given, with any 
species I have seen. 

Our Gray Rabbit is abundant, and, comparativel}^ 
tame, and is frequently seen in the evening about twi- 
light, skipping playfully across lanes, and along the 
roadsides. 

The Swamp Hare is much larger and more shy. 

The Deer is much diminished, and, like the Buffalo 
and Elk, is perhaps, destined to become extinct in our 
limits. At seasons of general inundation of the Missis- 
sippi Bottoms, numbers of them perish. At such times, 
many of them retreat to the highlands, and are for the 
time numerous in the timbered lands in the set- 
tlements. 

The mode of hunting them chiefly pursued, is by 
driving wuth a pack of hounds; the hunters posting 
themselves at stands where the deer are known habitu- 
ally to cross the roads or ridges, or to ford the small 
streams. 



Class II.— AYES, OE BIEDS, 

Most ornithologists differ in their systems of classifi- 
cation. The division into five orders, proposed by 
Swainson, seems the most natural and, best suited to the 
arrangement of this abridged catalogue : — 

Order I. — Insessores, or Perching Birds; comprising all 
those whose organization enables them to live 
habitually among trees. 



318 



FAUNA. 



Order II. — Raptores, or Rapacious Birds ; those that 
live exclusively on animal substances, being analo- 
gous to the Tigers, Hyenas, and other carnivorous 
quadrupeds. 

Order III. — Natatores, or Swimming Birds ; web-footed, 
and fitted to live habitually in the water. 

Order IV. — Grallatores, or Wading Birds; with long 
legs and necks, fitted for the pursuit of fish and 
animals inhabiting shallow water and marshes. 

Order V. — Rasores, or Walking Birds ; rearing their 
young and living chiefly on the ground. 



I. IWSESSORES. 
HirundinidsB. 

Hirundo purpurea. Purple, or house martin. 

H. rufa. Barn swallow. 

Acanthylis pelasgia. Chimney swallow. 

Caprlmul^inae. 

Caprimulgus vociferus. Whippoorwill. 

" " Chuckwills widow. 



Alcedo alcyon. 
Trochilus colubris. 
Troglodytes sedon. 
Merula migratoria. 



Alcedinldae. 

Kingfisher. 

Trocbilidae. 

Humming-bird. 

Troglodytlnae. 

House wren. 

]M[erulidae. 

American robin. 



Ampelidae. 

Bombycilla Carolinaensis. Cedar bird. 



FAUNA. 



319 



Sialia Wilsonia. 

Orpheus polyglottus. 
Orpheus rufus. 

Tyrannus intrepidus. 



Sylviadae. 

Bluebird. 

Merulldae. 

Mocking-bird. 
Brown thrush. 

Sylvicolidse. 

King bird, or Bee martin. 





Corvidae. 


Garrulus cristatus. 


Blue jay. 


Corvus Americanus. 


Common crow. 




Qutscalidae. 


Quiscalus versicolor. 


Crow blackbird. 


Sturnella ludoviciana. 


Meadow lark. 


Icterus Baltimore. 


Golden oriole. 


Icterus phoeniceus. 


Red-winged oriole. 


Sturnus prsedatorius. 


Red-winged starling. 




Frin^illidae. 


Pitytus cardinalis. 


Crested red-bird. 


Pyranga aestiva. 


Red-bird. 




PIcidse. 


Picus pileatus. 


Crested woodpecker. 


erythrocephalus, 


Redheaded woodpecker. 


varius. 


Yellow-bellied woodpecker. 


pubescens. 


Downy woodpecker. 


aurantus. 


Golden-winged woodpecker. 


principalis. 


Ivory-bill woodpecker. 



Coccyzus Americanus. 



Psittacus Carolinensis. 



Cuculidse. 

American cuckoo. (Rain crow.) 

Psittacidae. 

Paroquet, Carolina parrot. 



Columbidae. 

Columba migratoria. Wild pigeon. 

Ectopistes Carolinensis. Turtle dove. 



820 



FAUNA. 



Cathartes aura. 
atratus. 



Halisetus leucocephalus. 
Butes borealis. 
Falco anatum. 
Nauclerus furcatus. 
Falco sparverius. 



Bubo Yirginianus. 

Asio. 

Otus palustris. 
TJlula nebulosa. 



VeiltMridje. 

Turkey buzzard. 
Carrion crow. 

Falconidae. 

Bald, or Brown eagle. 
Red-tailed hawk. 
Chicken hawk. 
Swallow-tailed hawk. 
Sparrow hawk. 

Sti'Ing-idse. 

Great-horned owl. 
Screech-owl. 
Short-eared owl. 
The barred owl. 



Podieeps cristatus. 
Colymbus glacialis. 



III. Bf ATATORES. 
Podicipid£e. 

Water-witch, or dipper. 

Great loon^ or diver. 



PuflSnus obscurus. 
Thalassidroma Wilsonii 



Proceilaridae. 

Shearwater. 

Petrel. (Mother Carey's chicken. 



Pelccanidae. ^ 

Phselacracorax Brazil ensis. Cormorant. 

Pelicanus trachyrbynchus. White pelican. 

Tachypetes aquilus, Gannet, or frigate bird. 



Rhynchops nigra. 
Sterna anglica. 
Larus zonorhynchus. 



Iiarid£e. 

Cutwater. 
Marsh tern. 
Common gulL 



FAUNA. 



321 



Fuligula erythrocepliala. 
Anas boschas, 

sponsa. 

acuta. 

strepera. 

discors. 

Carolinensis. 

clypeata. 

Fuligula albeola. 
Anser Canadensis. 
Ibernicla. 



Anatidae. 

Redhead duck. 
The mallard. 
Wood duck. 
Sprigtail duck. 
Gray duck. 
Blue-wing teal. 
Greenwing teal. 
Spoonbill duck. 
Diedipper duck. 
Wild goose. 
Brant. 



IV. GRAIiliATORES. 

©StaradridaB. 



Charadrius semipalmatus. 
C melodus. 
G. Wilsonius. 
C. vociferus. 
Squatarola helvetica. 



Grus Americana. 
Ardea herodias. 

leuce. 

candidissima. 

cerulea. 

virescens. 

■ exilis. 

minor. 



American ring plover. 
Piping plover. 
Wilson's plover. 
Killdeer plover. 
Whistling plover, 

CrFUidSB. 

Whooping crane. 
Great blue heron. 
Great white heron. 
White-crested heron. 
Blue heron. 
Green heron. 
Bittern, 
Indian hen. 



Platalea ajaja. 



Ibis alba. 

Mexicanus. 



Rostridae. 

Roseate spoonbilL 

Tantalidse. 

White ibis. 
Glossy ibis. 



21 



7 



322 FAUNA. 

Scolopacidae. 

Numenius longirostris. Spanisli curlew. 

Totanus Bartramius. Gray plover. 

Scolopax Wilsoni. American snipe. ^ 

Rusticolar minor. Woodcock. 

Railidee. 

Ortygometra Carolinensis. Rail. 

Podicapldse. 

Eulica Americana. Coot, or mud hen. 

V. RASORES. 
Pliasianidee. 

Meleagris galliparvo. Wild turkey. 

Tetraonidae. 

Ortyx Virginiana. Partridge, or quail. 

Remaeks. — The foregoing is a very defective list of 
our birds — of the aquatic tribes especially. Many of 
the Incisores, or perchers, are also omitted, and some very 
familiar ones have doubtless escaped notice. 

Of a few of the birds embraced in the catalogue, some 
casual observations will be offered in the order in which 
they occur. 

Of the nighthawk, or whippoorwill, we have two varie- 
ties, distinguishable perhaps, only by the difference of 
note. In size, plumage, and habits, I believe they are 
alike. 

The variety found in the southern part of the State 
(south of about 32° 30' north latitude), is known famili- 
arly as the Sjpanish whippoorwill, or Chuckwill's widow. 
The other, restricted to the upper counties, is the com- 
mon whippoorwill of the Northern States. 

Of our single species of the Humming-bird, the plu- 
mage of the male is exceedingly rich and beautiful. 



FAUNA. 323 

The color of the head and back is of a vivid green and 
gold, and the throat a brilliant ruby. In the season of 
flowers, they are seen by the dozen humming over our 
shrubberies, darting with the speed of light from flower 
to flower, and sipping the honeyed sweets, sustained on 
wings vibrating with a velocity so great as almost to 
elude the eye. 

The Cedar-bird appears in flocks early in the fall, and 
lingers late in the spring. It seems to delight in the 
pearl-like berries of the mistletoe, and is also very fond 
of those of the lauria mundi. 

The Robin arrives in considerable numbers late in 
winter. In our coldest weather it appears suddenly, and 
is then quite fat. It feeds ravenously whilst with us, 
on the China berry, with which the trees are then loaded, 
which occasions it frequently to fall from the trees appa- 
rently stupefied, when it is easily caught. "Whether this 
is owing to a narcotic or intoxicating property of the 
berry, or is the effect of temporary strangulation, is not 
known. 

In form, attitude, and motion, nothing exceeds the 
grace of our matchless "Orpheus," the Mocking-bird. 
In music and mimicry unrivalled, proud of his gift of 
song, he is not content with its daily exhibition, but for 
hours in the " stilly night" pours forth a flood of melody. 

The delicate Blue-bird, the noisy garrulous Jay, the 
Cardinal, Red-bird, and the resplendent Oriole, or Balti- 
more-bird, are conspicuous among the less brilliant deni- 
zens of the air that hover about our houses, and animate 
our groves. 

Chief of his tribe, the majestic ivory-bill Woodpecker 
cleaves his way through the air, in a series of peculiar 
and singularly graceful undulations, produced by the 
regularly intermitting strokes of his muscular wings. 



324 FAUNA. 

"Disdaining the grovelling haunts of the common herd of 
woodpeckers/' he seeks his favorite resorts in the lofti- 
est trees in the most secluded forests, and from the 
blasted arms of the lordly cypress or the mast-like trunk 
of the towering pine, sends forth his clear and clarion 
notes, and startles the ear with the resounding strokes of 
his powerful beak. The Downy Woodpecker, best known 
to us as the sap sucker, is the most social and perhaps 
the most mischievous of the tribe. 

It doubtless subsists in part on insects; but, unlike 
others of the family, prefers living trees to those which 
are decayed. 

It perforates the bark of those with a succession of 
lines or small holes penetrating only to the woody fibre, 
and sometimes extending entirely around the trunk or 
branch, by which it is materially injured or destroyed. 

The trees preferred are the maple, the apple, and 
others which yield a rich and abundant sap, upon which, 
according to the popular belief, it feeds. In opposition 
to the opinion of most of our other naturalists. Dr. Kirk- 
land adopts this opinion, in which my own observations 
for many years lead me to concur. 

The Paroquet or Carolina Parrot, with his plumage of 
vivid green and golden crest, was formerly very nume- 
rous, and often resorted in large flocks to inhabited dis- 
tricts, and made himself familiar with the apple orchards. 

Now the Paroquet has become quite scarce and shy, 
and is seldom seen in flocks of more than half a dozen 
together, retiring habitually to the swamp or tall timber. 
Its favorite food is the cocklebur, Zanthiwn strumarium. 
They have a shrill, piercing note, which they always 
utter together or alternately when on the wing. 

The Wild Pigeon visits us occasionally in large num- 
bers, and sometimes establishes roosts and rears young. 



FAUNA. 325 

They appear occasionally in such incredible flocks as 
to obscure the sun and darken the air in their flight, 
which has been known to continue, scarcely diminished, 
for several days. 

These migrations are occasioned by the breaking up of 
large roosts, where they have remained until the timber 
has been stripped of the branches by the large numbers 
roosting upon them, and killed by the heating effects of 
the large accumulations of the ordure about the roots. 
In most of the large flights observed in a period of forty 
years, their direction has been to the northeast through 
the State. 

In the winter of 1851 and 1852, large numbers en- 
tered the State and remained several months, establish- 
ing temporary roosts in different quarters, from which 
they ranged daily in every direction in search of food, 
which consisted chiefly of beechnuts and acorns. They 
were killed in large numbers, and were taken in common 
bird traps. 

Sixty years since an extensive roost existed on Pigeon- 
Koost Creek, in Choctaw County, where the timber was 
all killed, and the roost necessarily abandoned. 

The prince of birds, the Eagle, shuns the abode of man, 
and is met with chiefly on the borders of our principal 
streams, and is perhaps most numerous in the vicinity 
of the sea-shore. Besides the Hawks enumerated, we 
have doubtless several others, but with which I am not 
sufficiently familiar to distinguish from foreign species. 

Like the cry of the Nighthawk, or Whippoorwill, 
the startling Bob White of the Partridge, or the notes of 
other imitative birds which are imagined to articulate 
words or sentences, the hooting of our great owl suggests 
similar resemblances, and ludicrous associations of sound. 
A hunting party, encamped for the first night in the 



326 FAUNA. 

woods, were grouped around the camp-fire, making ar- 
rangements for the preparation of the evening repast, 
when an owl perched over head, and, seemingly much 
interested in their proceedings, startled the party with 
this inquiry : " Who cooks, who cooks, who cooks, for 
y-o-u a-1-1 ? " — At least, so they understood him. 

The large White Pelican has been killed in the Mis- 
sissippi River, near Natchez, in the month of June, and 
is by no means rare in our waters. 

The Cormorant flocks to our secluded lakes in im- 
mense numbers. 

In brilliancy of plumage, none of its tribe can match 
our wood or summer duck. It remains with us through- 
out the year, and builds its nest in hollow trees, from 
which the downy unfledged ducklings, light as balls of 
pufl", are said to fall unharmed to the ground. 

Most of our ducks are migratory, and visit us only 
during the winter months. They frequent the lakes 
and bayous chiefly of the Mississippi bottoms, and those 
of our other rivers, and resort in myriads to the marshes 
and creeks of the sea-coast. 

The same may be said of the Goose and Brant. 

The Woodcock, Rusticolar minor, is occasionally found 
in considerable numbers. Some years since, they were so 
abundant in Jefierson County, during the winter months, 
that they were killed at night by fire hunting between 
the cotton rows in flat, wet situations. Blinded by the 
torchlight, they sufiered themselves to be stricken down 
with small rods. 

Even in the most populous neighborhoods, the Wild 
Turkey continues yet to rear its young. Within a few 
miles of Natchez, young broods are yearly produced. 

The wary and watchful character of this bird prevents 
the entire destruction of the race. 



FAUNA. 



327 



In more secluded neighborhoods and in other parts of 
the State, the wild turkey is as numerous as ever. 

The Partridge, or Quail as it is termed in other States, 
seems to be more abundant in northern and middle 
counties than in those bordering on the Mississippi. 
This may in part be attributed to the circumstance 
that very little small grain is produced on the large 
cotton estates. 



Class III.— EEPTILIA, OE EEPTILES. 



TESTUDIK'ATI. 
CbelonidsB. 



Trionyx ferox. 
Chelonura Temmincki. 

— serpentina. 

Emys terrapin. 

serrata. 

picta. 



Chelonura mydas. 

— caretta. 

Kinosternon Pennsylvanium. 
Cistuda Carolina. 
Blandingi. 



Soft-shell turtle. 
Loggerhead turtle. 
Snapping turtle. 
Couta. 



Green turtle. 
Hawk-bill turtle. 
Mud turtle. 
Terrapin. 



Testudo polyphsemus. 



Gopher, 



SAFRIA. 

Emysaurldae. 

Alligator Mississippiensis. Alligator. 



328 



FAUNA. 



Iguanidae. 

Anolis Carolinensis. Chamelion. (Green lizard.) 

Tropidolepis undulatus. Gray lizard. 

I^acertidse. 

Cnemidophorus sexlineatus. Striped lizard. 

Scblncidae. 

Ligosoma quinquelineatus. Redheaded lizard. 





BATRACHIA. 




SalanaandridsB. 


Salamandra salmonea. 


Ground puppy 


S. faciata. 


(I 11 


S. bilineata. 


it ii 


S. fusca. 


it It 


S. poi-phyritica. 


it it 


S. ? 


ft it 


s. ? 


ft . ti 


Triton niger. 


Spring lizard. 




Slrenidse. 


Menobranclius lateralis 


Water lizard. 


Siren lacertina. 


(( it 




Ranldae. 


Rana pipiens. 


Bull-frog. 


R. fontanalis. 


Spring-frog. 


R. sylvatica. 


Wood-frog. 


Hyla halecina. 


Leopard-frog. 


viridis. 


Tree-toad. 


Buflfo Americanus. 


Common toad. 



The following catalogue of our Serpents has been 
obligingly revised by Prof Spencer F. Baird, who has 
done me the favor of identifying the species with speci- 
mens preserved in the Smithsonian Institution, and de- 
scribed in his work on the Serpents of North America, 



FAUNA. 



329 



Crotalus dnrissus. 
Crotalophorus milarius. 
Agkistrodon contortrix. 
ToxicopMs piscivorus. 

Toxicoplds atrofuscus. 



OPHIDIA. 

Crotalidse. 

Banded rattlesnake. 

Ground rattlesnake. 

Copper-head 

"Water mocassin. 
( Upland mocassin. 
-{ Highland mocassin. 
^ Cotton-mouth. 



Elaps fulvius. 
Elaps tristis. 



Elapsoidea. 

(Harlequin snake. 
(Bead snake. 



CoIisberMae. 



Eutsenia saurita ? 

Eutffinia sirtalis. 
Nerodia Holbrooki ? 

Heterodon platyrhinos. 

Heterodon niger. 
Heterodon simus. 
Scotophis guttatus. 

Ophibolus clericus. 

Ophibolus Sayi. 

Bascanion constrictor. 
Masticophis flagelliformis. 
Leptophis eestivus. 
Chlorosoma vernalis. 
Diadophis punctatus. 
Rhinostoma coccinea. 
Haldea striatula. 
Celuta amoena. 
Tantilla coronata. 
Osceola elapsoidea. 



Swift garter-snake. 

Striped snake. 

Water snake. 
(Blowing viper. 
(Hog-nose snake. 

Spreading adder. 

Hog-nose viper. 

Black pilot snake. 
( Chicken snake. 
■} Milk snake. 
( Cow snake. 
(Egg snake. 
(King snake. 

Common black snake. 

Coach-whip snake. 

Green snake. 

tt le 

Ring-necked snake. 
Scarlet snake. 
Brown snake. 
Worm snake. 

King snake. 



330 FAUNA. 

Remarks. — The Alligator, chief of our reptiles, attains 
a great size. Some have been taken measuring twelve 
or fifteen feet in length. All intermediate sizes, from the 
newly-hatched young, not exceeding six inches in length, 
are met with in the lakes and bayous, chiefly of the 
Mississippi bottoms and those of our other principal 
streams. The introduction of steamboats seems to have 
driven them in a great degree from our navigable streams, 
and they have evidently been greatly diminished in the 
last half century. 

Formerly, they were killed in large numbers by the 
French, or Creole boatmen {couriers de hois), for the oil, 
which was much used in our tanneries for dressing 
leather. The skins were often tanned, and formed a 
unique and ornamental seat for saddles, having the ap- 
pearance of quilted or embossed work. They were also 
sometimes manufactured into shoes and boots. 

The Alligator lays quite a number of eggs of an oval 
form, of equal size at both ends, and three to four inches 
in length. These they deposit in nests constructed of 
branches of decayed wood and leaves, intermixed with 
mud, to be hatched by atmospheric heat. 

We have in the State Cabinet, a young alligator about 
a foot in length, which was hatched on the mantle-piece 
in the parlor of a gentleman in Yicksburg, from an egg 
which had lain there several days. It lived several 
months. 

The shell of the largest of our turtles, the Chelonura 
Temminchi, sometimes measures three feet in its greatest 
diameter. When fully grown, this species is rarely less 
than two feet in length of the carapace, and has been 
known to measure four or five inches between the eyes. 

The center, or Emys teri-apin, the second in size, is 
found to measure twelve or fourteen inches along the 



FAUNA. 331 

back, and the average size may be given at about eight 
to ten inches. The Emys serrata is rather smaller. 

The Snapping-turtle, or Clielonura serpentina, has the 
thinnest shell of the family ; and I have never met with 
one quite as large as the full grown Emys terrapin. 

The Soft Shell, Trionyx ferox, is very flat, has a long 
pointed nose, no external shell proper, the skeleton being 
invested with a thick, gelatinous cartilage. It measures 
frequently twelve or fourteen inches across the back, and 
of all our turtles is esteemed the greatest delicacy. 

The Emys terrapin is also much in demand, and both 
are extensively used, and find a ready sale to steamboats 
and restaurants. 

The Gopher, Testudo pdlyphcemus, is an inhabitant of 
our pine flats, near the sea-shore, and is rarely seen much 
north of the thirty-first degree of north latitude. It 
attains considerable size, and possesses suflicient strength 
when full grown, it is said, to walk ofi" with a man stand- 
ing upon his back. The largest I have seen, however, 
did not measure more than a foot in diameter. He was 
invested in a thick elastic carapace, the sutures of which 
separating the plates, or bosses much depressed. 

The gopher is said to burrow ten or twelve feet in the 
sandy soil, and is, therefore, not easily taken, except 
when found roaming abroad. 

An ingenious mode of capturing him, which is prac- 
tised, was related to me. A common box terrapin is 
used for the purpose, being sent into the gopher's hole, 
from which he is speedily driven out; but, in the eager- 
ness of pursuit, the gopher frequently follows him so far 
above ground as to be cut off from his retreat and 
captured by the waiting hunter. 

Numbers of them are taken to the fashionable water- 



332 PAUNA. 

ing-places on the sea-sliore, and find a ready sale, being 
in much demand by epicures. 

Our small green lizard is not a chamelion, although 
popularly so called. Nuttall terms it the chamelion 
lizard. 

The tail of the small striped and large redheaded 
lizard is extremely brittle, and in consequence, is fre- 
quently broken off, but is soon restored by a new growth. 

A specimen of the Tropidolepis undulatus, in our col- 
lection, has a branched or double tail, for two-thirds of 
its length, as if, mindful of the adage "two strings to a 
bow," he had made provision in advance against a possi- 
ble repetition of a catastrophe which had deprived him 
of the original member. 

We have several species of the Salamander, a slimy, 
offensive looking reptile, locally called the Ground puppy, 
some of which I have not seen figured or described. 

Our frogs are believed to be common to the Southern 
States. 



Class IY.— PISCES, OE FISH. 

CATALOGUE OF THE FISHES OF MISSISSIPPI, PREPARED AND 
REVISED BY PROF. LOUIS AGASSIZ. 



1. 

2. 


Trygon Sabina. Les. 
Pristis pectinatus. Lath. 

GA]¥©IOS. 
Sturlones. 


Sting ray. 
Saw-fish. 


3. 
4. 


Scaphirhynclius platirhynchus. 
Polyodon folium. Lac. 


Shovelnose sturgeon. 
Spoonbill sturgeon. 



FAUNA. 



5. Lepidosteus spatula. Lac. 

6. Lepidosteus * 

t. Lepidosteus Chasei. Wailes. 



8. Amia calva. 



€£eIacaiiitlA§. 



Alligator gar. 
Pike gar. 
Black gar. 



Mud-fish. 



Ostraclontes. 
9. Ostracion * Cow-fish. 



10. Diodon maculato-striatus. Mitch. 

Slluroids. 

11. Graleichthys marinus. Cuv. 

12. Arius Milberti. Cuv. 

13. Pimelodus ccerulescens. JRcif. 

14. Pimelodus limosus. Baf. 

CTEM0IS5S. 
PleMi'osiectidsB. 

15. Achirus mollis. Mitch. 

Cliaetodoiitg. 

16. Ephippus faber. JBIo. 
It. Chffitodon striatus. Lin. 



Sparoid§. 

18. Sargus Ovis. Mitch. 

19. Sargus rhomboides. Ouv. 

Scisemolds. 

20. Otolithus Carolinensis. Cuv. 

21. Otolithus Drummondi. HicJi. 

22. Corvina ocellata. Cuv. 

23. TJmbrina alburnus. Cuv. 

24. Pogonias Chromis. Lae. 

25. Pogonias fasciatus. Lae. 

26. Amblodon * 

2t. Micropogon undulatus. Cuv. 



Cat-fish, salt water. 
Cat-fish, salt water. 
Cat-fish, fresh water. 
Cat-fish, fresh water. 



Angel-fish. 



Sheepshead. 
Pine perch. 

Trout. 
Trout. 
Red-fish. 
Whiting. 
Big drum. 
Young drum. 
"White perch. 
Croaker, or grunt. 



* Species not yet identified. 



334 



FAUNA. 



Percoids. 

28. Labrax ■ — * Striped bass. 

29. Labrax lineatus. Ciw. Rockfish. 

30. Serranus erytbrogaster. De K. Red snapper. 

31. Serranus * Snapper. 

32. Diploprion fascicularis. Hoi. 

33. Mesoprion uninotatus. Guv. 

34. Mesoprion chrysurus. Guv. Yellow-tail. 

35. Centropristis trifurca. Guv. 

36. Calliurus gulosus. Ag. Goggle-eye. 
31. Pomotis incisor. Val. 

38. Pomotis hsematodes. Ag. 

39. Pomotis atrorubens. Ag. 



Mssglloids. 



40. Mugil Plumieri. Guv. 



Jumping mullet. 





CYCI.©I®S. 






SpSiyrseEioids. 




41. 


Sphyraena Barracuda. Guv. 

Scomllseroids. 




42. 


Cybium maculatum. Guv. 


Spotted mackerel. 


43. 


Naucrates ductor. Guv. 


Pilot-fisb. 


44. 


Licbia Carolina. 


Pompeno. 


45. 


Caranx * 





46. Argyrius Vomer. Lac. 
4T. Yomer Brownii. Guv. 
48. Elacate atlantica. Guv. 



Silver-fish. 



Scomberesoces. 

49. Belone caribsea. Let. 



Bill-fish. 



Esoces. 



50. Esox 



Pike. 



liopbioidg. 

51. Malthea vespertilio. Guv. 



Toad-fish. 



* Species not yet identified. 



FAUNA. 

liabroids. 

52. Lachnolsemus aigula. Guv. 



335 





Cyprlnoids. 




53. 


Ichthyobus * 


Gasp^rgoo. 


54. 


Carpiodes * 


Buffalo. 


55. 


Catostomus * 

Cyprinodonts. 


Sucker. 


56. 


Zygonectes olivaceus. Ag. 


Top water. 


57. 


Cyprinodon ovinus. Vol. 




58. 


Fundulus spilotus. Hoi. 


Minnow. 


59. 


Heterandria Holbrookii. Ag. 

Scopelini. 




60. 


Saurus mexicanus. Guv. 

Clupeoids. 




61. 


Clupea * 




62. 


Megalops eyprinoides. Lam. 

Anguillidae. 


Tarpon, or 


63. 


Anguilla * 


Eel. 



Remarks. — The foregoing catalogue of our fishes, 
although far from complete, is, perhaps, the most perfect 
and reliable list of the fish of the southwest yet pub- 
lished. 

Prof. Agassiz, who has done me the favor to prepare 
and revise it for the press, observes "that, when upon 
the southern coast of Mississippi, he paid little attention 
to the sharks and skates, and cannot, therefore, furnish a 
list of the species of those families found in the waters 
of the Gulf of Mexico washing the shores of the State 
of Mississippi." The only species of Sting Ray, the 
Tragon sabina, he obtained in great abundance upon the 
sand-flats. 



* Species not yet identified. 



336 FAUNA. 

" The Pristis pectinatus, or Saw-fish, is occasionally 
found, and is known sometimes, it is said, to ascend the Mis- 
sissippi River, That the Pristis antiquorum ascends the 
Senegal River for several hundred miles above its mouth 
has long been known. Our saw-fish is by no means the 
Pristis antiquorum, which is only found in the Old 
World, and the statements of the occurrence of the P. 
pectinatus in the Old World are incorrect." 

"Much," he remarks, "remains to be done, to ascer- 
tain all the species of this order found in the waters of 
the Mississippi." 

The Spoon-bill Sturgeon, Polyodon folium, more fami- 
liarly known in Mississippi as the Spoon-hill Cat, is 
abundant in our bayous and lakes, and attains nearly 
as great a size as the alligator gar, being often taken 
several feet in length. 

Prof Agassiz states that he has not seen any genuine 
sturgeon from our waters. 

Of the family of Cottoids, he obtained one species of 
Priontus, and one of the Scorpgena, but has not yet 
identified them. 

Where the specific name is omitted in the list, it is not 
to be understood that the species are doubtful, but that 
Prof. Agassiz has not yet duly compared them with others 
of the genus. 

Three species of small fish found in the clear creeks 
of our State, and familiarly known as horny-heads, or 
Sto7ie-toters, were obtained during the past summer, and 
forwarded to Prof. Agassiz for examination; but being 
unaccountably delayed in the transmission, it remains 
yet to be determined whether either of them is identical 
with the Chologaster cornutus, found by him in South 
Carolina, or with those discovered by Prof Safford, in 
Tennessee. 



FAUNA. 337 

Most probably some will be found to correspond with 
the Tennessee fish, as ours were chiefly obtained in 
North Mississippi^ near Oxford, and not remote from the 
Tennessee line. 

One species of the Chologaster, at least, has been taken 
in Adams and other southern counties of the State. 

An undescribed species of the Lepidosteus, or Alliga- 
tor Gar, not yet seen by Prof Agassiz, has been obtained, 
and a specimen about three feet in length is preserved in 
the collection of the Rev. Benjamin Chase, of Natchez. 
The Taxidermist, who procured and preserved it for Mr. 
Chase, named it the hlach gar, in contradistinction to the 
other species which are not so dark. 

In general form and appearance of the head and body, 
it resembles the L. spatula nearly. The distinctive 
characteristic of the species is found in the biordinate 
disposition of the rows of scales, which range in opposite 
directions from the extremities, those from the posterior 
end taking a direction contrary to that in other species; 
and the rows from the head and tail meeting about mid- 
way of the body, gives the line of junction a zigzag, or 
serrated appearance. 

For this species I propose the name of the accom- 
plished and zealous cultivator of Natural History, who 
possesses it. , It is, therefore, added to our catalogue, and 
will be known as the Lepidosteus Chaseii, of Wailes, 

Doubtless our catalogue of the fishes of the southwest 
will hereafter be much enlarged. 



22 



DOi 



FAUNA. 



INYEKTEBRATA. 



Class I.— MOLLUSCA, OE SHELL-PISH. 

Of this class 1113^ observations enable me to give but 
little more tlian a catalogue of the family Unionid^B, or 
fresh-water mussle, and this is as yet imperfect. Our 
collections embrace the following species: — 



Uuio anadontoides. 

— asperimus. 

— cylindricus. 

— circulus. 

— globosa. 

— glans. 

— hydranus. 

— lieros. 

— inflata. 

— lens. 

— Mississippiensis. 
. — multiplicatus. 

— nodiferus. 

— nobilis. 

— nasutus. 



UmioMes. 

Unio nodulatus. 

— obesus. 

— plicatus. 

— perplicatus. 

— porrectus. 

— purpuratus. 

— pustulosus. 

— pustulatus. 
■ — quadrulus. 

— rectus. 

■ — silliqvToides. 

— subovatiis. 

— ti'apezoides. 

— trigonius. 

— tuberculatus. 



Anadonta grandis. 

■ plana. 

suborbiculata. 



Anadonta decora. 
Stewartiana. 



Eemaeks. — Of our list of Uniones, the Mississippi- 
ensis and Porrectus are newly determined species, and 
have been figured and described by Conrad, in the 
Journal of the Academy of Natural Sciences. 



FAUNA. d6\) 

The trapezoides is the most common and widely dis- 
persed species. The purpuratus (Ater, or lugubris), An- 
adontoides (or teres), and the SiUiquoides are abundant. 

Of the Univalves, we have the 

Paludina, Lymnsea, 

Planorbis, and 

Melania, Succinea. 

The paludina only is found in any abundance. The 
melanias appear to be very rare. The lymnsea and 
succinea occur in the fossil state, associated with the 
helices in the mastodon bone-beds. 

EleEices, or Snails. 

Among those now found living, Those found fossil, are — 

I enumerate the following : — Helix albolabris. 

Helix alternata. • concava. 

auriculata. elevata. 

fraterna. profunda. 

hirsuta. perspectiva. 

interna. ■ palliata. 

pulchella. ■ Sayi. 

■ tridentata. thyroides. 



helicina. 



CRUSTACEANS. 

Our collection in this department is yet very limited. 
enumerate at present only the following : — 

SCIENTIFIC NAME. POPULAE. NAME. 

Loligo punctata. Cuttle fish. 

Polyphemus occidentales. Horse-foot crab. 

Lupa dicantha. Common edible crab. 

Gelasimus vocans. Piddler crab. 

Ocypode arenaria. Small sand-crab. 



340 



FAUNA. 



SCIENTIFIC NAME. 

Pagurus longicarpus. 
Pseudocarcinus mercenaria. 
Cambarus leprosus, ? Agaz. 

" fluviatilis. 

" fossor. 

Peneus setiferus. 
Hippolyte Carolinana. 



POPULAK NAME. 

Hermit crab. 
Stone crab. 
Large crawfish. 
Smaller crawfish. 

It u 

Sea prawn, or shrimp. 
Mississippi shrimp. 



Class II.— ARTICULATA, OR INSECTS. 



Class III.— RADIATA— STAR-FISH, ETC. 

These classes of the Invertebrata must^ for the pre- 
sent, be wholly omitted. 



YII. FLOEA. 



A SYSTEMATIC and comprehensive catalogue of the 
Botany of the State cannot, with propriety, be under- 
taken until the close of the survey. At present, only a 
popular and familiar synopsis of some of the most use- 
ful and ornamental of our trees and plants will be 
attempted, without regard to classification or arrange- 
ment in a scientific form. 

I. FOEBST-TEEES. 



POPULAR NAME. 

Apple, crab 
Ash, blue 
" white 
Beech, 
Barberry, 
Birch, 
Bay, sweet, 
Bay berry, 
Box elder, 
Buck-eye dwarf, 

Candleberry, 

Cherry, 

Cucumber-tree, 

Chestnut, 

Chinquepin, 

Cottonwood, 



SCIENTIFIC NAME. 

Pyrus coronaria. 
Fraxinus quadrangulata. 

. " accuminata. 
Fagus Americana. 
Barberis vulgaris. 
Betula populifolia. 
Magnolia glauca. 
Myrica cerifera. 
Acer negundo. 
Aesculus pavia, 

" spicta. 
Myrica cerifera. 
Cerasus Virginiana. 
Magnolia auriculata. 
Castanea vesca. 

" pumila. 
Populus deltoides. 



342 



FLORA. 



POPULAU NAME. 

Cypress, 
Cedar, 
Dogwood, 
Dogwood, swamp 

Elm, red 
Elm, slippery 
Elm, cork-bark 
Elder, 
Gum, sweet 
Gum, black 
Haw, black 

" possum 
Hackberry, 
Hickory, 
Hazel, 
Hazel, witch 
Holly, 
Hawthorn, 

" parsley -leaved, 
Hornbeam, 
Honeysuckle, 

white 
Huckleberry, 

" swamp 

Hyderangea, 
Hercules club, 
Ironwood, 
Lauria mundi. 
Laurel, 

Laurel, swamp 
Linn, 

Leatherwood, 
Locust, 
Locust, honey 

Magnolia, 
li 

Maple, sugar 



' SCIENTIFIC NAME. 

Cupressus disticha. 
Juniperus Yirginiana. 
Cornus florida. 
" sericea. 
Cephalanthus occidentalis. 
TJlmus Americana. 
" fulva. 
" racemosa. 
Sambucus Canadensis. 
Liquidambar styraciflua. 
ISTyssa multiflora. 
Yiburnum prunifolium. 

" nudum. 

Celtis occidentalis. 
Carya tomentosa. , 
Corylus Americana. 
Hamamelas Yirginicus. 
Jlex opaca. 
Crat83gus crusgalli. 

" punctata. 

" apiifolia. 
Carpinus Americana. 
Azalea rubra. 

" viscosa. 
Yaccinum corymbosum. 

" vascillans. 
Hyderangea arborescens. 
Aralia spinosa. 
Ostrya Yirginica. 
Cerasus Caroliuensis. 
Lauro cerasus. 
Kalmia glauca. 
Tilia Americana. 
Dirca palustris. 
Kobina pseuda-acacia. 
Gleditschia triacanthos. 
" brachyloba. 

Magnolia grandiflora. 

' ' auriculata. 

Acer saccharinum. 



FLORA. 



o4o 



POPULAR NAME. 


SCIENTIFIC NAME. 


Maple, red 


Acer rubrum. 


'■ silver-leaved 


" dasycarpum. 


" swamp 


" negundo. 


Mulberry, 


Morus rubra. 


Myrtle, 


Myrica inodorata. 


Myrtlewax, 


" cerifera. 


Oak, live 


Quercus virens. 


" red 


" rubra. 


" black 


" tinctoria. 


" blackjack, 


" niger. 


" white 


" alba. 


" Spanish 


" falcata. 


" post 


" obtusiloba. 


" chestnut 


" castanea. 


" chiuquepin 


" prinoides. 


" overcup ^ 


" macrocarpa. 


" swamp 


" aquatica. 


" willow 


" phellos. 


" pin 


" palustris. 


Osage orange, 


Madura aurantica. 


Pride of Barbadoes, 


Amorpha fructicosa. 


Paeon, 


Carya olivsefermis. 


Paeon, bitter 


Hicorea texana.' 


Pig-nut, 


Carya amara. 


Plum, 


Prunus Americana. 


a 


" Chickasaw. 


" blue 


'I 9 


" red 


w 9 


11 u 


u 9 


Prickly ash, 


Zanthoxylum tricarpum, 


Paupau, 


Uvaria triloba. 


Pine, long leaf 


Pinus palustris. 


" short leaf 


" rigida. 


" swamp 


" mitis. 


" pitch 


" tffida. 


Poplar, 


Liriodendron tulipifera. 


Persimmon, 


Diospycus Yirginiana. 


Eedbud, Judas-free, 


Cercis Canadensis. 


Sycamore, 


Platanus occidentalis. 


Sumac, 


Rhus glabra. 



344 



FLORA. 



POPULAR NAME. 

Sumac dwarf, 
Strawberry-tree, 
Swamp spice, 

" snow-ball, 
Sassafras, 
Shellbark, 
Starry annis, 
Spanish mulberry, 
Service-tree, 
Stewartia, 
Spice wood 
Tupelo, 

" large fruited 
Toothache-tree, 
Umbrella-tree, 
Walnut, 
Willow, 



SCIENTIFIC NAME. 

Rhus typhina. 
Euonymus Americanus. 
Ilex prinoides. 
Hydrangea quercifolia. 
Laurus sassafras. 
Carya-alba. 
Kalmia glauca. 
Calicaspa Americana. 
Aronia arbutifolia. 
Stewartia malacodendron. 
Laurus benzoin. 
Nyssa villosa. 

" tomentosa. 
Zanthoxylum clavaherculis. 
Magnolia tripetala. 
Juglans nigra. 
Salix nigra. 



II. PAEASITBS, EUNNEES, AND CLIMBEES. 



POPULAR NAME. 

Blackberry, 

" swamp 

Creeper, 
Cross vine. 
Cornucopia, 
Coral vine, 
Dewberry, 
Green moss, 
Jasmine, yellow, 
Mistletoe, 
Poison oak, 
Passion flower, 
Spanish moss, 
Suplejack, 
Strawberry, 
Sensitive brier. 
Tie vine, Morning glory 
Wild potatoe vine, 



SCIENTIFIC NAME. 

Rubus villosa. 
Rubus hispidus. 
Bignonia radicans. 

" crucigera. 

Glycene fructescens ? 
Lycium europeum ? 
Eubus Canadensis. 
Tillandsia ? 
Gelceminum nitidum. 
Viscum verticillatum. 
Rhus toxicodendron. 
Passiflora incarnata. 
Tillandsia usneoides. 
Ziziphus volubilis. 
Pragaria Virginiana. 
Mimosa instia. 
Convolvulus arvensis. 

" panduratus. 



FLORA. 



345 



POPULAR NAME. 

Sarsaparilla vine, 
"Woodbine, red, 
" yellow, 



SCIENTIFIC NAME. 

ScHsandra coccinea. 
Lonicera sempervirens. 
" flava. 



III. UNDEEGEOWTH PEEENNIALS. 



POPULAR NAME. 


SCIENTIFIC NAME. 


Bear grass. 


Yucca filamentosa. 


Cane, 


Arundo gigantea. 


China brier. 


Smilax China. 


Fern, 


Polypodiuni ? 


Fern, 


u 9 




Green brier, 


Smilax rotundifolia. 


U if 


" spinulosa. 


Palmetto, fan 


Sabal minor. 


Prickly pear, 


Opuntia vulgaris. 


Reed, 


Arundo tecta. 



lY. NOXIOUS WEEDS, HUETFUL TO PLANTATIONS. 



POPULAB, NAME. 

Burdock, 
Beggar sticks, 
CocklebuTj 
Dock, 
Dogfennel, 
Jamestown weed. 
Sneeze weed. 
Stinging nettle, 
Spanish needles. 
Smart weed. 
Thistle, 

Wild coffee weed, 
" chamomile, 



SCIENTIFIC NAME. 

Lappa major. 
Bidens connata. 
Zanthium strumarium. 
Eumex obtusifolia. 
Anthemis cotula. 
Datura stramonium. 
Helenium autumnale. 
Urtica urens. 
Bidens bipinnata. 
Polygonum articulatum. 
Circum lanceolatus. 

" pumilus. 
Cassia occidentalis. 
Anthemis arvensis. 



FLOEA. 



Y. YITUS, OE OEAPE. 



POPULAR NAME. 

Muscadine, 
Choke grape. 
Small sour grape, 



SCIENTIFIC NAME. 

Yitis rotundifolia. 
' ' cordifolia. 

" ? 



YI. PLANTS, USEFUL, MEDICINAL, AND ORNA- 
MENTAL. 



POPULAR NA3IE. 

Aster, 
Boneset, 
Columbo, 
Chiekweed, 
Cotton rose, 
Calamus, 
Cats-tail, 
Centaury plant, 
False foxglove, 
Ginger, wild 
Green dragon, 
Gall of the earth, 
Ground Ivy, 
Horsemint, 
Horehound, 
Heartsease, 
Indian turnip, 
Jerusalem oak, 

" cherry, 

Lucern, 
Lambsquarter, 
Lobelia, . 
Milk weed, 
May apple, 
Monoca nut, 
Mallow, 
Mullein, 
Pleurisy root, 



SCIENTIFIC NAME. 

Aster radula. 
Eupatorium perfoliatum. 
Frasera walteri. 
Stellaria medea.' 
Hibiscus grandiflorus. 
Acorus calamus. 
Typha latifolia. 
Sabbatia angularis. 
Gerardia flava. 
Asarium Canadensis. 
Arissema dracontium. 
Nabulus fraseri. 
Ipegsea repens. 
Monarda fistulosa. 
Marrubium vulgare. 
Yiola tricolor. 
Arisema triphyllum. 
Ambrina anthelmintica, 
Physalis viscosa. 
Medicago sativa. 
Chenopodium album. 
Lobelia cardinalis. 
Acerates viridiflora. 
Podophyllum peltatum. 
Nelumbium speciosum. 
Hibiscus militaris. 
Yerbascum thapsus. 
Asclepias tuberosa. 



FLORA. 



347 



POPULAR NAME. 

Pink-root, 

Pocoon, 

Purslane, 

Poke-weed, 

Pine-sap, 

Pickerel weed, 

Pansey, 

Peppermint, 

Partridge pea, 

Rattlesnake master. 

Rush, 

Silk-weed, 

it li . 

Sorrel, 
Senna, wild 
Pepper-grass, 
Specularia, 
Violet, 

White-water lily. 
White clover, 
Wild indigo, 

" sensitive plant, 

" parsnip, 
Water plantain, 
Wild senna, 
Vinnella, 
Virburnum, 
Yellow pond-lily, 
Vervain, 
Trailing arbutus, 
Bears-foot, 



SCIEXTIFIC NAME. 

Spigelia marylandica. 
Sanguinaria Canadensis. 
Portulacca oleracea. 
Phytolacca decandra. 
Monotropa hypopithys. 
Pontederia cordata. 
Viola tricolor. 
Mentha piperita, 
Lathyous variosa. 
Hieracium venosum. 
Eques hyemale. 
Asclepias purpurescens. 
Asclepias variegata. 
Oxalis stricta. 
Cassia Marylandica. 
, Lepidium campistre. 
Specularia perfoliata. 
Viola rotundifolia, 
Xymphia odorata. 
Trifolium repens. 
Baptisia tinctoria. 
Cassia nictitans. 
Pastinaca saliva. 
Alisma plantago. 
Cassia IMarylandica. 
Cacalia sauveolus. 
Virbena spuria. 
ISTuphar advena. 
Verbena spuria. 
Epiggea ripens. 
Fetid hellebore- 



Remarks. — Of our timber and timber-trees miicli of 
interest might be said, did our space admit of it. 

Tlie Cypress, for many purposes of building, stands 
unrivalled. I have no means of estimating the value 
of the trade in this timber, but it is immense. 

There is scarcely a town or village on the Mississippi, 



348 FLOEA. 

or its tributaries; within the limits of the State, in which 
there is not one or more steam-mills busily employed in 
sawing this timber. Add to these the numerous mills 
similarly employed on plantations, and take into view 
the logs rafted to New Orleans, and along the river coast 
below our borders, and it will be perceived that the 
annual consumption of this valuable timber, the growth 
of our swamps, is enormous. 

No inconsiderable quantity of this timber is floated 
into the Yazoo Eiver in cribs, or single logs, from the 
Cypress hrahes, or swamps, at periods when the low 
grounds are sufficiently inundated, and the slues and 
hayous are filled with water. The cribs and logs are 
then united by pinning poles across them, forming rafts 
sometimes two hundred feet or more in length. 

It is a curious and imposing spectacle in passing up 
the Yazoo River, at the period of high water, to observe 
the vast accumulations of logs, covering in the aggre- 
gate, miles of the surface of the stream, awaiting the 
subsidence of the flood for a current in the river, to be 
floated out. Much of this timber comes from the sources 
of the Yazoo, and from the Bayous and Lakes connect- 
ing with them in time of high water. 

The Big Black, the Pearl, and the Homochitto Rivers 
also contribute large supplies. 

Much of the Cypress was formerly cut from the public 
lands, but some restraint has of late been imposed upon 
these depredations. 

A large class of raftsmen are habitually engaged in 
this pursuit, to an extent that has greatly reduced, if 
not exhausted, the supply in many of the most ac- 
cessible localities. 

The general extension of the levies or embankments 
on the Mississippi, of late years, by restraining the over- 



FLORA. 349 

flow of water into the swamps, has, to a considerable 
extent, impeded the operations of these timber-men, 
who are, in consequence, unable sometimes for years to 
get out the logs which they have cut and prepared for 
floating. 

The Red Cypress, the most valuable variety, not 
floating, in consequence of its greater specific gravity, 
can only be brought out by pinning or securing the log 
between others of a more buoyant kind. 

Next in value to the Cypress, and perhaps more in- 
exhaustible, is the Long Leaf Pine, which is taken to 
the mills along the seaboard, or shipped in logs to 
Europe or the West Indies. 

Suitable sticks for masts or spars in ship-building, are 
greatly in demand at very lucrative prices, and a great 
quantity of this description of timber is purchased for 
the French navy. 

Logs are cut at proper seasons, hauled by means of 
large timber-wheels to convenient places, and rolled into 
the hollows or dry channels of the wet-weather streams, 
out of which they are floated when the rainy season 
sets in. 

"Where the country is very flat, and destitute of 
streams or natural channels, the simple expedient is 
adopted of cutting small ditches, sometimes miles in 
length, barely large enough to receive the logs which 
are rolled into them, end to end, and along which they 
are pushed by hand, so soon as the rains have filled the 
ditches. 

In the counties bordering on the sea-shore, the Pine is 
made to afford a considerable supply of tar and char- 
coal, much of which is taken across the lake to New 
Orleans. 

The tar-kilns are formed from the heart and hnots, or 



350 FLORA. 

the fatty portions of the fallen pine timber, from which 
the sap has completely decayed away, or been burned off 
in the periodical firing of the woods. 

Ample supplies can always be . obtained in a limited 
space, for the construction of the kiln, which is fre- 
quently made upon public lands, there being no hin- 
drance to the use of the dead or fallen timber, by the 
government timber agents. 

The kilns are rarely conical, but of a rectangular 
shape, eight or ten feet high, made by arranging the 
ligliticood, finely split, and disposed in a suitable manner, 
for running off the melted tar over an inclined plane 
into a pit or receptacle sunk at the lower end. 

The kilns sometimes contain a hundred cords, each 
cord yielding about two barrels of tar, worth one and 
a half tQ two dollars per barrel, at the kiln. 

The residuum forms the charcoal, which is put up in 
coarse sacks for convenience of transportation to the 
city. 

A distillery for spirits of turpentine and camphene. 
w^-^s established a few years since, at Napoleon, in the 
County of Hancock, on Pearl River, and some ijineries 
of considerable extent, were formed in the neighborhood 
for collecting the rosin. 

This is done by hoxing, or cutting a receptacle in the 
side of the tree two or three feet above the ground, to 
receive the exuding turpentine, the flow or running of 
which is promoted by paring away the bark for some 
extent above it. 

The trees are said to yield well, and to afix3rd one 
more dipping than in North Carolina, owing to the 
greater length of the season for the running of the sap. 
The barked surface requires to be extended and scraped 



FLOEA. ool 

periodically, with an instrument, suited to the purpose. 
to remove the hardened rosin that accumulates. 

Much watciif ulness is required to keep the fire out of 
the pineries during the period of burning off the under- 
growth and straw of the neighboring pine forests, as the 
burning over and charring the decorticated surface 
effectually prevents any further flow of the turpentine. 
if the tree itself is not wholly consumed. 

When effectually protected from these firings, the 
trees last for three or four years, before they cease to be 
productive. ^ 

The hands employed in these pineries being vfith- 
drawn by the proprietors, who were planters engaged in 
the culture of cotton, in a distant part of the State, 
the supply of the raw turpentine failed, and the dis- 
tillery was broken up and removed. 

The stores of valuable oak timber we possess, have 
been little used, except for plantation purposes, the rails 
for fencing being chiefly made of it. 

Beyond the small local demand for wagon-making and 
for cotton-baskets, the white-oak, scarcely less valuable 
than the live-oak, has given little employment to the 
industry of the country. 

In remote sections, however, where the cultivation of 
cotton does not absorb the whole attention, the s^ettins; 
out of staves or jDuncheons has been found profitable. 

Staves and hoop-poles have been brought down from 
the head of keel-boat navigation, on the Tallahatchie, 
in Pontotoc County. 

The live-oak is highly prized as an ornamental shade- 
tree, but does not now exist on our coast in such abun- 
dance as to furnish any considerable supply of timber 
for ship-building. 

An intelligent observer, residing in Marion County, 



352 FLORA. 

informs me that, althougli the live-oak timber ap- 
proaches quite near to the thirty-first degree of north 
latitude, in a state of nature it has never been noticed 
by him north of that parallel. He has made the same 
observation with respect to the chestnut, which has 
its southern limit about the same line. 

The geographical distribution of some of our forest- 
trees, seems to be well defined. For example, the Mag- 
nolia tripetala (Umbrella-tree), as a prevailing growth, 
seems to be confined to a narrow belt extending north- 
wardly from our southern boundary, in a direction 
parallel with the general course of the Mississippi River, 
and twelve or fifteen miles to the east of it. 

I have not met with it north of the thirty-third de- 
gree of north latitude, which seems also to be about the 
northern limit of the Spanish moss, tillandsia usneoides. 

Over extensive districts of country, a single species 
of timber sometimes is found to prevail almost exclu- 
sively, with the exception of the inferior shrubs and 
plants that constitute the undergrowth. This is the 
case, mainly, with the long and short-leaf pine, which, 
though sometimes blended, occupy generally, distinct 
tracts; and also with the post-oak and black-jack. 
The same may be said, but to less extent, of the 
hickory and the chestnut. 

Other tracts exhibit a remarkable variety of the 
forest-trees in close association, which generally afiect 
distinct soils and situations. This was noticed as form- 
ing a remarkable feature of the forests in the eastern 
part of Wilkinson County, and in part of Amite. 

The evergreens and deciduous trees are seen inter- 
mingled, and forming varied and pleasing contrasts. 
Indeed, it was often difiicult to detect on quite limited 
areas the absence of any of our forest-trees. The 



FLOEA. 353 

grouping of these, together with the presence of the 
azalias, woodbines, jasmine, and other flowering shrubs 
and vines, gives to the scenery a truly park-like cha- 
racter, as if art had co-operated with nature to display, 
at a single view, all the riches of our flora. 

A few years since, Lieut. W. D. Porter, of the United 
States Navy, called the attention of the people of the 
United States, to the cultivation of the Sumac [Rhus 
Coriaria), as practised in Sicily, and which he repre- 
sented as a highly profitable pursuit, and suggested the 
introduction of the plant and some of the operatives 
accustomed to its management. It is understood that 
the Sumac is extensively used in Jersey and the neigh- 
boring States for tanning, and that considerable quanti- 
ties of the cured leaves are exported from that quarter. 

The occurrence, in this State, of extensive natural 
plantations of the dwarf species, BJius Typliina, as an 
undergrowth on some of our pine lands, suggests their 
availability for this purpose without the labor of culti- 
vation. 

The sweet-gum was formerly regarded as a useless 
cumberer of the earth, and from its great size on the 
rich alluvial lands, difficult to be got rid of except by 
the slow process of deadening, by helting or cutting 
around the tree through the sap. Of late years, it has 
come into considerable use as a fuel on steamboats, and, 
when seasoned, little difficulty is experienced in burn- 
ing it. 

The Sassafras, a valuable timber-tree, and formerly 
abundant, and in great demand in past years for shin- 
gles, where the Cypress was less convenient, has in con- 
sequence been greatly diminished, and large trees of it 
are now rarely seen. 
23 



354 FLORA. 

The Lynn has also become scarce in many situations 
where it was formerly very abundant. In early times, 
the bark was very useful in manufacturing ropes and 
for other purposes, and was one of the early causes of 
its destruction. It is a soft-grained wood, of even 
texture, free from knots and other imperfections, and 
not liable to shrink or warp when seasoned, and there- 
fore very suitable for ceilings and other interior parts in 
buildings. 

Bees are very fond of the flowers, and the honey 
made from them is reputed to possess a peculiarly deli- 
cate flavor. That from the flowers of the Chinquepin, 
on the contrary, is said to be poisonous. 

The Lynn appears to be most abundant at this time, 
in the western part of Jefferson County. 

The Cottonwood, Pojptdus Deltoides, now the chief re- 
source for steamboat fuel, on the lower Mississippi — the 
ash timber having become nearly exhausted at all ac- 
cessible points — is of a very quick growth, and the 
rapidity with which it is reproduced, is consequently a 
very favorable circumstance. Every new deposit made 
by the inundations of the river, is speedily covered with 
a spontaneous growth of young Cottonwood, standing as 
thickly as a crop of small grain. This arrests the sedi- 
ment subsequently brought by the river, and new 
islands and bars are formed, upon which the growth, by 
a natural process, becoming sufficiently thinned out, 
attains a considerable size in a very few years, thus re- 
newing the supply of fuel, which otherwise would 
speedily become exhausted. 

The Chestnut is only found in the interior, and most 
abundantly in the northern counties. The tree seems 
to have become diseased in latter years, and is rapidly 
dying out. 



FLORA. ' 355 

The small species or Chinquepin, Gastanea pumilla, 
flourishes best on the rich bluff lands bordering on the 
Mississippi. 

Among the several species of our wild plums, none of 
which are fit for use until preserved in the form of 
sweetmeats or jellies, I notice a small blue species, re- 
sembling in color the damson. It was observed in 
greatest abundance, on Pearl Eiver, in Marion County, 
and is sometimes called "the Sloe." The fruit is of 
small size, but pulpy, with a very small pit. The trees 
seem more vigorous, healthy, and prolific than the other 
species of the wild plum, producing the fruit abundantly 
in clusters. It is doubtless worthy of cultivation and 
introduction into our orchards. 

The service-tree, Aronia Arhutifolia, found in Amite 
and Wilkinson Counties, is rather a novelty, very few 
trees having been met with. 

Although our fan palm or Palmetto, Sabal pumilla 
(the Sabal adansoni, of Loudon, and Sabal minor, of 
Nuttall), grows with the greatest luxuriance, in the low- 
swamp lands; yet it is met with sometimes, in more 
arid and elevated situations, and is abundant on our 
seaboard, growing on the sandy pine lands, sometimes 
on the very verge of the ocean. 

Some of our noxious plants are not exclusively the 
pests of the South. The Jamestown weed, daturia 
stramonium, and the Cocklebur, Zantliium strumarium, 
have a very wide geographical range. They have been 
observed, growing with the greatest luxuriance, in the 
New England States, and, on the rocky shores of 
Nahant, are moistened by the spray from the surf 
of the ocean dashing over the rocks on which they 
thrive. 



356 FLORA. 

The space allotted to this branch of the report will 
admit of no further extension of these remarks. 

The additional observations which have been made, 
and the information acquired in reference to our Flora, 
must consequently be deferred to another occasion. 



APPENDIX. 



A. 

THE PRESIDEIS^T OP THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF 
THE STATE TNIYERSITY TO THE GOVERNOR OP 
THE STATE. 

Jackson, Miss., January 12, 1854. 

His Excellency John J. McRae, 

Governor of Mississippi. 

Sir — In pursuance of an order of the Board of 
Trustees of the University of Mississippi, I herewith lay 
before you the Report of Prof B. L. C. Wailes, on the 
Agriculture, Geology, and Natural History of Mississippi ; 
and in doing so, I embrace the occasion to express the 
entire satisfaction of the Board with the able manner in 
which the professor has discharged the duty which had 
been assigned him. 

With due respect, your obedient servant, 

J. THOMPSON, 
Prest. Board of Trustees. 

B. 

MESSAGE OP GOYERNOR McRAE TO THE LEGISLA- 
TURE. 

Executive OrncE, January 1^, 1854. 

To THE Senate and House of Representatives. 

I invite the attention of the two houses to the Report 
of Prof. B. L. C. Wailes, Geological Department of Mis- 



358 APPEN-DIX. 

sissippi University, on the Agriculture, Geology, and 
Natural History of Mississippi, which, in pursuance of 
an order of the Board of Trustees of the University has 
been presented as required by law to the Governor, and 
which I have the honor to submit for the consideration 
of the Legislature. 

The Board of Trustees express their entire satisfac- 
tion with • the able manner in which Prof. Wailes has 
discharged his duties, and as an individual member of 
the Board, I concur in their unanimous opinion in favor 
of the publication of the report. 

It is the first of a series, which will form the Geological 
History of our State, and is preceded by an interesting 
historical outline of the discovery and early settlement 
of the Mississippi Territory, with other valuable statis- 
tical information, which will be useful and interesting to 
the people of the State. 

I recommended the printing of the report by the 
authorit}^ of the Legislature in neat and durable style, 
and in such numbers as will be sufficient for distribution 
in our own State, and for partial distribution in other 
States. 

Should the printing of the report be ordered as recom- 
mended, it is proper to say that I am informed by Prof 
Wailes, that the preliminary historical outline is not en- 
tirely finished, the period during which the country was 
subject to the Spanish rule having yet to be supplied to 
bring it down to the time of the surrender of the coun- 
try to the United States. 

The department of Zoology is also incomplete, and 
there are blanks in the tables of statistics, to be filled up 
when the census returns are published, and several 
plates representing the fossils and geological sections, re- 
quired properly to illustrate the report, are yet to be 
added. 



APPENDIX. 359 

These can all be perfected, and the report be revised 
bj the State Geologist, before it is printed. 

I accompany the report with the letter of the Presi- 
dent of the Board of Trustees, of the University, sub- 
mitting it to the Governor. 

JOHN J. McRAE. 

C. 

REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE OF THE SENATE. 

January 20, 1854. 

In the Senate. 

Mr. Cobb, from a Select Committee, made the following 
report : — 

Me. President — The Select Committee, to whom w^as 
referred the special message of his Excellency, communi- 
cated to the Senate on the 17th inst., together with a 
manuscript copy of a scientific work, by Prof. Wailes, 
of the Geological Department of the State University, 
and recommending the publication of the same by the 
authority of the Legislature, have had the same under 
consideration, and do earnestly advise that provision be 
made for carrying into effect his Excellency's recom- 
mendations. 

The advantages to be derived from the circulation of 
a work so eminently meritorious as this, under the 
patronage of the Legislature, cannot be questioned or 
easily calculated ; for it will, in all likelihood, prove to be 
the initiative step to great attainments in developing the 
scientific talent and resources of our State. 

Science, in many of its branches, as we are taught by 
history, can never be successfully prosecuted or made to 
subserve extended useful purposes without adequate 
patronage; and in the absence of any incorporated 



360 APPENDIX. 

scientific societies, or institutions possessed of the requi- 
site means and influence to extend material aid in this 
respect, your Committee are of opinion that such patron- 
age should, as a matter of justice as well as policy, be 
cheerfully and seasonably extended by the Legislature. 

The end for which this department of the State Uni- 
versity was established, can never be attained, if assist- 
ance of this character shall be refused or grudgingly 
extended ; and that benefit which is to be derived from 
the experience and labors of learned professors, will be 
entirely cut off". 

The branch of science embraced and illustrated in 
this work, has been too long neglected to admit of fur- 
ther delay in rendering the aid necessary to its proper 
development, if the Legislature design to promote bene- 
ficial and practical results. 

With this view, and in conformity with the recom- 
mendations of his Excellency, your Committee beg leave 
to report the following bill, and recommend that it be 
passed. 

D. 

A]^ ACT TO AUTHORIZE THE PKINTINO OF THE 
EIRST ANNUAL REPORT OF THE AGRICULTURAL 
AND GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF THE STATE. 

Section 1. Be it enacted hy the Legislature of the State 
of Mississippi, That two thousand copies of the report 
of Professor B. L. C. Wailes, State Geologist, be printed, 
under his supervision, in quarto form, and in such man- 
ner, and with such illustrations and plates, therein 
given, as his Excellency, the Governor, shall deem ap- 
propriate and necessary for its illustration. 

Section 2. Be it further enacted, That, when printed 
and bound, the said report shall be deposited in the office 



APPENDIX. 361 

of the Secretary of State, to be by him distributed as fol- 
lows : Fifty copies to be deposited in the State Library ; 
twenty-five copies to be deposited in the State Uni- 
versity ; one copy to each State in the Union ; one copy 
to be given to each incorporated college and academy in 
the State; one copy each to the Governor, Secreta,ry of 
State, Auditor of Public Accounts, State Treasurer, Ad- 
jutant-General, the Chancellor and Vice-Chancellors, the 
Judges of the High Court of Errors and Appeals, the 
Attorney-General, the Judge and District Attorney of 
each District, each member of the present Senate and 
House of Representatives; and one hundred copies to 
the said State Geologist, to be by him exchanged for 
similar reports from other States, and to furnish to 
scientific societies and public libraries. 

Section 3. Be it furtlier enacted, That one thousand 
copies of said report shall be deposited in the office of 
the Secretary of State, to be sold by any agent or agents 
to be appointed by the Governor, under such regulations, 
and for such a sum each, as he may deem proper and 
advisable, for the purpose of reimbursing the State for 
publishing the same, and the balance to be distributed 
among the several counties of the State, in proportion 
to their representation in the Legislature, to be furnished 
to the people thereof, in such manner as the Boards of 
Police of the several counties, shall direct. 

Section 4. Be it furiher enacted, That, previous to 
the printing of said report, it shall be revised and com- 
pleted by the said State Geologist ; and the portion of it 
which treats of Zoology, as far as prepared, shall be 
omitted, and in lieu thereof, a catalogue of the Fauna of 
the State, as far as ascertained, be substituted. 

Section 5. And he it further enacted, That for the 



362 APPENDIX. 

further and more efficient prosecution of the survey, 
analyses of the marls, soils, mineral waters, and the 
chief agricultural productions of the State, shall be 
made at the University of Mississippi, as the Trustees 
may designate ; and the State Geologist may, from time 
to time, furnish such marls, soils, and waters as may be 
required for analyses, and shall receive in return from 
the chemist, full and precise reports of all analyses 
which may be made; and specimens of the marls and 
soils shall be preserved in convenient glass bottles, in 
the State Cabinet, and in the Cabinet of the University, 
properly labelled, with the chemical character of the 
substance, and the locality from which the same was 
obtained. 

Section 6. And he it further enacted, That the said 
Geologist shall make collections of specimens to illus- 
trate the mineral character and Palaeontology of the 
State, in addition to the Zoological productions, which 
by law he is now required to collect, and to cause them 
to be suitably arranged and preserved in the State Cabi- 
net, and that of the University; and any duplicates that 
remain, may be distributed by him among such of the 
incorporated colleges as may apply for them. 

Section 7. And he it further enacted, That the sum, 
not to exceed two thousand five hundred dollars, be appro- 
priated out of any money in the treasury, to be drawn 
upon the requisition of the Governor, for the purpose of 
carrying into effect the provisions of this Act. 

Section 8. Be it enacted, That this Act shall take 
effect, and be in force, from and after its passage. 

Approved March 1, 1854. * 



APPENDIX. 363 



E. 



EXTRACTS FROM DR. MILLINGTON'S REPORT TO THE 

GOVERNOR. 

About the 1st of February, 1854, Dr. Millington, 
(late principal professor of Geology in the State Uni- 
versity of Mississippi), then connected with the Medical 
School at Memphis, made a report to Governor McRae, 
but which was not received until several weeks had 
elapsed after the Trustees of the University had ad- 
journed and left Jackson. The following extract from 
the concluding part of that report, exhibits its character 
and extent: — 

"An assistant geologist was provided for, who was to 
travel over the State, and make examinations and in- 
vestigations under my directions, and to report all that 
he could learn, and had done, from time to time, and 
likewise to make collections of specimens of what he 
met with, and to transmit the same, from time to time, 
to the museum of the University at Oxford, where they 
might be deposited, and examined or analyzed, and be 
described as most necessary ; and fortunately, Mr. B. L. 
C. Waiies was appointed to that situation, and he has 
conducted it, as" far as the examination has gone, in the 
most ample and satisfactory manner, as will appear by 
the abstract of his monthly reports to me before given. 
All, therefore, that I have been able to do, has been to 
transcribe his reports, with occasional observations, and 
to take charge of and arrange the specimens which he 
has sent on, which already form the nucleus of a useful, 
if not a very full and complete museum ; and I hereby 
tender my warmest thanks for the assistance Mr. Waiies 
has rendered to me, and to the cause in which we have 
been engaged. 



364 APPENDIX. 

" But it has always appeared to me that the person 
who travels, and personally examines the geological and 
mineralogical formations of a country, ought to be con- 
sidered as the principal ojfficer; and he who is the cura- 
tor or examiner, or analyzer, as of less importance -, and 
I have always considered myself as placed in an inferior 
position in respect to Mr. "Wailes. * * * * Being 
no longer connected with the University, which has my 
warmest wishes for its prosperity, I beg leave most re- 
spectfully to recommend that, in any future appointment, 
the Professor of Chemistry and Geology should be sepa- 
rate and unconnected persons; the first to remain at the 
University, and to undertake the examination and an- 
alysis of whatever may be sent to him by the Professor 
of Geology, and to report accordingly." 

F. 

MR. WILLIAM DUNBAR'S CLASSIFICATION OF LAND 

CLAIMS. 

In May, 1799, when the inhabitants of the District of 
Natchez were under much anxiety and suspense respect- 
ing the titles of their lands, Mr. William Dunbar, an 
English gentleman by birth, of a liberal and scientific 
education, who came to this country in 1773, and under 
the succeeding Spanish administration had superintended 
much of the surveying in the Natchez District as the 
deputy of Don Carlos Trudeau, the Surveyor-General of 
the province of Louisiana, in writing on the subject of 
the land claims, makes the following classification of 
them. The shades of distinction between some of them 
are very slight, and, as far as the essential conditions of 
validity are concerned, may be comprised in the two 



APPENDIX. 365 

grades in which they are treated of in the chapter on 
Land Titles, page 117: — 

^^First. — Lands granted by the British Government, 
and not abandoned by the proprietors or their represent- 
atives, either by purchase or power of attorney, and 
have been cultivated. Such titles we repute the best 
of all. 

^^ Second. — Land granted by Mandamus by British 
Government, without condition of occupancy or improve- 
ment, but which has never been occupied by the pro- 
prietors or their agents. 

'^^ Third. — British letters patent of lands from provincial 
governors, containing a condition of certain improvements 
within three years, to be forfeited by non-performance, 
and which lands have never been occupied by their pro- 
prietors or agents. 

'^Fourth. — The last description of lands once occupied, 
but afterwards abandoned for many years to the present 
time. 

"Fifth. — Spanish grants by letters patent on Mandamus 
lands. 

"Sixth. — Spanish grants, or lan^s formerly granted b}^ 
British governors, but never occupied by the British 
patentees, not residing in the country. 

" Seventh. — The last description, with this difference, 
that the patentee, although he never occupied or im- 
proved his land, was a resident in another part of the 
colony, who, upon resisting this new grant of his lands, 
by petition to the Spanish governor, has been rejected 
upon the principle of non-occupancy and want of im- 
provement, agreeably to the conditions of his British 
grant, as well as reiterated Spanish proclamations to the 
same effect. 



366 APPENDIX. 

"MgJith. — Spanish grants upon lands which were 
always vacant under the British government. 

'^' Ninth. — Lands purchased at public sale, of the Span- 
ish government, which lands had been declared forfeited 
in consequence of an insurrection or species of rebellion 
in favor of the English, soon after the Natchez had been 
surrendered by capitulation to the Spaniards. — Note. 
Within the above description are mandamus lands, as 
well as patents by governors of West Florida. 

" Tenth. — -Lands for which warrants of survey had 
been obtained prior to the ratification of the Spanish 
treaty, but which could not be patented until after that 
period. 

'■^Eleventh. — Lands of the above description, but never 
patented, the proprietor holding the warrant of survey, 
and plot, and certificate of the district surveyor, prior to 
the treaty. 

" Ttoelfth. — Land for which warrants of survey were 
obtained before the treaty, surveyed and patented after 
the ratification of the treaty. 

'^^Thirteenik. — Lands for which warrants of survey were 
obtained prior to the treaty, and surveyed after the 
treaty, but not patented. 

^^ Fourteenth.— -WQijTT2in.i of survey and patent obtained 
since the treaty, but during the exercise of the Spanish 
jurisdiction, as agreed to by the then representatives of 
the government of the United States, Commissioner 
Ellicott and Lieutenant Pope, as appears by an instru- 
ment of writing then made between the Spanish govern- 
inent and the people, ratified by Messrs. Ellicott and 
Pope. 

^'Fifteenth. — Warrant of survey, with plot and certi- 
ficate of the District Surveyor, obiained since the treaty, 
but no patent. 



APPENDIX. 367 

^' Sixteentli. — Warrant of survey obtained before tbe 
treaty, and improvement, but the land not measured. 

^^Seventeenth. — "Warrant obtained since the treaty, 
with improvement, including houses, crop, stock, &c., 
but land not measured. 

^^ Eighteenth. — Warrant before the treaty, without im- 
provement or measurement. 

'^'Nineteenth. — Warrant since the treaty, without im- 
provement or measurement. 

" Twentieth. — Improvement by houses, crops, stock, 
&c., without authority, by warrant or otherwise. 

" Twenty-first. — Lesser improvements by raising small 
crop without residence. 

" Twenty -second. — Improvement by occupancy, and 
verbal permission of the Spanish Governor, with the 
Surveyor's certificate at the time of taking possession." 

G. 

WHITNEY'S SPECIFICATIONS AND DESCRIPTION OF 

HIS GIN. 

The Schedule referred to in the letters patent to Eli Whitney, granted 
March 14, 1T94. 

A short description of the machine invented by the 
subscriber, for ginning cotton : — 

The principal parts of this machine are: 1st, the 
frame; 2d, the cylinder; 3d, the breastwork; 4th, the 
clearer; and 5th, the hopper. 

1st. The frame, by which the whole work is sup- 
ported and kept together, is of a square or parallel or- 
ganic form, and proportionable to the other parts, as 
may be most convenient. 

2d. The cylinder is of wood. Its form is perfectly 
described by its name, and its dimensions may be from 



368 APPENDIX. 

six to nine inches diameter, and from two to five feet in 
length. The cylinder is placed horizontally across the 
frame, leaving room for the clearer on one side and the 
hopper on the other. 

In the cylinder is fixed an iron axis, which may pass 
quite through, or consist only of gudgeons driven into 
each end. 

There are shoulders on this axis to prevent any hori- 
zontal variation, and it extends so far without the frame 
as to admit a winch at one end, by which it is put in 
motion, and so far at the other end as to receive the 
whirl by which the clearer is turned. 

The surface of the cylinder is filled with teeth, set in- 
annular rows, which are at such a distance from each 
other as to admit a cotton seed to play freely in the 
space between them. The space between each tooth, in 
the same row, is so small as not to admit a seed or half 
a seed to enter it. These teeth are made of stiff iron 
wire driven into the wood of the cylinder. The teeth 
are all inclosed the same way, and in such a manner 
that the angle included between the tooth and a tangent 
drawn from the point, into which the tooth is driven, 
will be about 55 or 60 degrees. 

The gudgeons of the cylinder run in brass boxes, each 
of which is in two parts, one of which is fixed in the 
wood of the frame, and the other is confined down upon 
the axis with screws. 

3d. The breast-work is fixed above the cylinder, 
parallel and contiguous to the same. It has transverse 
grooves, or openings, through which the rows of teeth 
pass as the cylinder revolves, and its use is to obstruct 
the seeds while the cotton is carried forward through 
the grooves by the teeth. 

The thickness of the breast-work is two and a half or 



APPENDIX. 369 

three inches, and the under side of it is made of iron or 
brass. 

4th. The clearer is placed horizontally with, and 
parallel to, the cylinder. Its length is the same as that 
of the cylinder, and its diameter is proportioned by 
convenience. There are two, four, or more brushes or 
rows of bristles fixed in the surface of the clearer, in 
such manner that the ends of the bristles will sweep 
the surface of the cylinder. 

Its axis and boxes are similar to those of the cylinder. 
It is turned by means of a band and wheels, moves in a 
contrary direction from the cylinder, by which it is put 
in motion, and so far outruns it as to sweep the cotton 
from the teeth as fast as it is carried through the 
breast-work. 

The periphery of the whorls is spherical, and the 
band a broad strap of leather. 

6th. One side of the hopper is formed by the breast- 
work, the two ends by the frame, and the other side is 
movable from and towards the breast-work, so as to 
make the hopper more or less capacious. 

The cotton is put into the hopper, carried through the 
breast-work by the teeth, brushed off from the teeth by 
the clearer, and flies off from the clearer with the as- 
sistance of the air, by its own centrifugal force. 

The machine is turned by water, horses, or in any 
other way, as is most convenient. 

There are several modes of making the various parts 
of the machine, which, together with their particular 
shape and formation, are pointed out and explained in 
a description, with drawing, attested as the act directs. 

ELI WHITNEY. 



24 



370 APPENDIX. 

H. 

CONVBYAINJ^CE OP A RIGHT TO USE A WHITNEY GIN. 

State of Geoegia: 

To all to whom these presents shall come, Phineas 
Miller, of the State aforesaid, and Eli Whitney, of the 
State of Connecticut, send greeting : 

Whereas, The said Eli Whitney, by virtue of a 
patent under the Great Seal of the United States, dated 
the fourteenth day of March, in the year one thousand 
seven hundred and ninety-four, became entitled unto 
the full and exclusive right and liberty of making, con- 
structing, using, and vending to others, to be used, a 
certain new and useful improvement in the mode of 
ginning cotton, for the term of fourteen years, beginning 
from the sixth of November, one thousand seven hun- 
dred and ninety- three ; the principle of which im- 
provement consists in the use of teeth, to draw off the 
cotton, which passes between bars or divisions of a breast- 
work, too narrow to give passage to the seeds, and of a 
brush to detach the cotton from the teeth. 

And loJiereas, By deed of transfer, executed on the 
twenty-first day of June, in the year one thousand 
seven hundred and ninety-four, the said Eli Whitney 
conveyed to the said Phineas Miller, the one moiety or 
half part of all his right, title, claim, and interest to the 
said improvement in ginning cotton. 

Arid lohereas, By articles of copartnership, made and 
entered into by and between the said Eli Whitney and 
Phineas Miller, on the twenty-first day of June, in the 
year last before mentioned, it was mutually agreed by 
said parties, that all concerns which in any way re- 
spected the employment or disposed of the new invented 
machine or improvement in ginning cotton, should be 
conducted under the firm of Miller and Whitney. 



APPENDIX. 371 

Now hnoiD ye, That for and in consideration of the 
sum of two hundred dollars, to the said Miller and 
Whitney, at and before the sealing and delivery of these 
presents, well and truly paid by Levin Wailes, of the 
County of Elbert, and State of Georgia, the receipt of 
w^hich is hereby acknowledged, the said Miller and 
Whitney, by these presents, have bargained, sold, as- 
signed, transferred, and set over unto the said Levin 
Wailes, his executors, administrators, and assigns, all 
right, title, interest, privilege, and emolument whatever, 
which shall appertain to the construction, repairing, and 
entire use of one machine, which shall contain forty 
circles of saws, for the period of eight years, or until 
the patent right shall expire ; to be constructed upon 
the principles of the new improvement before men- 
tioned, invented and patented by the said Eli Whitney ; 
and to be erected and used in no other place but in the 
county of Elbert, aforesaid; 

To have and to Jiolcl, receive and enjoy, the full 
benefit, immunity, and privilege belonging to the use of 
the said cotton ginning machine, to him, the said Levin 
Wailes, his executors, administrators and assigns, for the 
period of eight years, or until the patent right shall expire. 

la loitness ivhereof, the said Miller and Whitney have 
hereunto set their hand and seal, and caused these 
presents to be delivered to the said Levin Wailes, for 
the purposes therein mentioned, on the 6th day of 
January, in the year 1808. 

[ L. s. ] RUSSELL GOODRICH, 

Age7it for MILLER & WHITNEY. 

Signed and sealed in presence of 
C. Tait, 
Nath'l Green. 



fi 



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